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In Reply to: RE: Resist the temptation to see things in black and white posted by rick_m on July 23, 2010 at 18:18:23:
The tests with my friend took place over the course of a few hours (and several different pieces of equipment were evaluated). I realize this isn't exactly a scientifically valid approach to testing audio equipment (I never claimed it was), but I feel that even limited-duration blind tests have significant value (more, in my opinion, than significantly longer subjective tests), based largely on what I've learned about audio equipment as a result of such tests. My understanding of the equipment in question was influenced by these tests and further private testing on my own only reinforced what I discovered in the blind tests (and led to a better understanding of my own subjective tests of other equipment and what to listen for).
Regarding first, middle, and final impressions...I'm not sure my personal experiences match your own. I feel that the initial impressions are usually the most noisy, followed by middle impressions, followed by the final impression (which is usually made with heavy consideration on the middle impression with some new inputs/experiences that were not had during the middle stage). That being said, I highly doubt there is one "right" formula for interpreting impressions (e.g. everyone is different).
As far as trusting my emotions...that's the part I have learned not to trust with these experiences in blind testing.
Another example of subjective vs. objective (to illustrate that subjective impressions are far from "clean" but carry quite a bit of baggage with them): my in-laws swear, no matter what restaurant I take them to in San Francisco, that the food at their local pizzeria, or sandwich shop, or steakhouse, or Chinese restaurant, is just as good, if not better, than the food at the best restaurants I've found in the city. And they get a bit emotional when I question them ("the stuff at our place is amazing! You should try it next time!" They usually forget that I have tried it, by the way...highly ordinary, to both myself and my wife. I guess one could argue that we are the ones being subjective here, but I am quite confident we'd be able to pick the food from the city in a blind test, LOL). This situation comes up in several others areas too...should we simply trust an emotional response based on a first impression (or very familiar impression) to "who makes the best steak you've ever had?" I am 100% certain that if we conducted a blind test between the Chinese food from a great restaurant in SF and the Chinese food from their local restaurant that they'd prefer the one from the city. You think I should trust their instinctive first impression of the Chinese food in the city, though, and just accept the fact that all their local restaurants are better than the best restaurants in the city?
Some questions to myself to sum things up (for me, and only me):
Will you learn more about audio equipment if you listen to it in an objective manner? I absolutely believe so. And the only people I've ever found who disagree are people who haven't done it themselves (or claim to have done it, but when probed about their experience, it becomes clear they haven't). This is a defensive reaction, I think (the more time and money you have invested in this hobby, based on subjective reviews, the more you are going to defend that approach, I think).
Should all evaluations of audio equipment be conducted in an entirely objective manner? I don't think so, because I believe there is some value in subjective tests as well (especially if they are referencing the impressions from the blind test).
Are subjective evaluations of audio equipment completely worthless? Absolutely not. They are just missing a fundamentally important part...kind of like a restaurant review from someone who had already decided they don't like the food at a restaurant because of the interior decorating, the wait staff, or the owner's previous establishment.
Is an objective evaluation always better than a subjective evaluation? No, but I believe the objective evaluation is usually going to provide a better set of data that is more meaningful (and representative of the performance of the equipment in question) than a subjective review.
Is a combination of subjective and objective techniques ideal? Yes, I think so. I'd really like to see a review that starts out with some initial, subjective, impressions, follows with the impressions from a blind test vs. some of the reviewer's favorite gear, and then a discussion of both sets of data.
Troll notice: these opinions (and they are nothing more than that) are based entirely on my own experience with audio equipment testing methods (and I'm guessing most attacks to this post will come from people who have little or no experience with objective testing).
Another example that reminds me of the mindset of high-end audio reviewers (and the companies that depend on their opinions): Charles Shaw wine ("two buck chuck") and its performance at BLIND tasting tests against much more expensive (and better subjectively reviewed wines).
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Follow Ups
- First, middle, last impressions... - Scrith 16:52:55 07/24/10 (1)
- RE: First, middle, last impressions... - rick_m 07:06:45 07/25/10 (0)
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