Originally Posted by Matt Finley
Originally Posted by Janice & Bud
I’ve waited decades for some self-avowed audiophiles to subject themselves to a double blind study re equipment/recording medium variables.

Bud
I know what you mean, but up until a couple of years ago, I would have accepted your challenge. I've worked with many audio engineers in my career and I have proven to them I can hear things their equipment says are different that they cannot hear. Now, sadly, I am about to get fitted for my first hearing aide in ten days shocked
There are people who have listened to a great deal of top-flight content and equipment who can tell some surprisingly tiny differences with good repeatability. There are those who's answer to inconsistent test results is that there must be a flaw in the testing process that is affecting the outcome.

There have been discoveries over the years that have have shed light on how sometimes people can hear differences that previously were considered nonsense or were not considered. The most obvious to me was TID (transient intermodulation distortion), where previously "low distortion" of typical sinusoidal measurement signals was extremely low, but the amplifier didn't sound right and people knew it. Ditto with electrolytic and ceramic capacitors when not used in the right ways.

Part of the issue here is that it was never in Hi-Fi makers' interests to debunk some of the nonsense, because people will pay a lot of money for some intangibly 'better' component or system.

An awful lot of the very top end of so many things is machismo and posturing. My house is better, my car is better, my watch is better, my 'phone is better.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
.