davedotco said:
jaxwired said:
ABX tests have in the past "proved" that all amps sound the same, all cd players sound the same, all DACs sound the same, and all cables sound the same. Yet here we all are buying amps, DACS, and cables like they actually do sound different. Anyone that is willing to be satisfied from an ABX test that mains cables all sound the same should then sell their amp and DAC and CDP and replace them with the cheapest on the market since those have also failed the ABX challenge.
Jax, you normally talk a fair amount of sense but that paragraph is nonsense of the highest order.
In my experience an ABX or properly conducted blind tests prove only one thing, simply that it is a hell of lot harder to tell the difference between items of hi-fi equipment when you do not know what you are listening to.
The amplifier test usually requires amplifiers (power amplifiers in reality) to be working 'within their capabilities' but in the real world this simply is not the case much of the time so differences can be heard often quite obviously so.
You think so huh, have to disgree. Even in the real world as long as volume levels are closely matched the people have consistently failed to win ABX challenges with power amps. Or pretty much any other hifi component i've ever heard being tested other than speakers (and perhaps turntables). Turns out the differences are not obvious at all. People simply cannot pass ABX challenges for amps or CD players or DACs or any type of cables. This is not debatable, this is fact. It's been done and the skeptics win every time. Therefore there are only two possibilities as far as my simple mind can detect.
1. All that equipment actually does sounds close enough as to be effectively identical for a human listener
OR
2. ABX tests are flawed.
If the former is true, then we are all wasting our money on anything but speakers. If the later is true, then ABX testing is worthless as it relates to hifi components.
I would much rather believe answer number 1 since it appeals strongly to my rational senses. However, my personal experience so strongly points to number 2. It's a mystery for sure. We are either all a bunch of easily fooled dullards wasting our money on voodoo or we are reacting to something that is not revealed by ABX testing. As much as I prefer the more rational path, I tend to think the latter is the truth.
Consider for a moment the possibility that human beings are able to detect differences between hifi amps, but only at a subconcious level or maybe only with long exposure. The brain and how we interpret sound is complex and we do not fully understand it.
I'm reminded of the famous Pepsi Challenge that happened in the early 1980s. At the time Coke was the market leader and pepsi went around doing live taste test between Pepsi and Coke. Turns out people over whelmingly preferred the taste of Pepsi. But it also turns out that people bought Coke anyway. So what should have been painfully obvious from the blind taste test actually contradicted people's real prefrences. In fact, Coke did their own blind taste tests and found the same thing, that people preferred pepsi. So they changed their formula to taste like pepsi and people hated the product. Moral of the story? People are not good at measuring themselves. Not a perfect analogy for the hifi ABX testing, but interesting and related I'd say.
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