"Arny Krueger" said:

So here we've arrived at the heart of the matter: people select
certain components not only for their sound, but also for
their looks, their fancy nameplate, their build quality,
whatever.

So what's the relevance of double blind testing for an average
consumer again?

DBTs are good for resolving controversies relating to sound
quality.


That's all good and well, Arny, but as I have been saying now for
about the 8-odd years that I'm on usenet:

When one likes a certain component, because of whatever property, that
one will automatically "sound better" because it makes the owner feel
good. Even when it is objectively less good (!)

That's entirely subjective indeed, but one can NOT go around and deny
that influence.

And another thing: one can't call SET amps and vinyl reproduction
'inferior", just because it performs objectively worse.
One can just say they don't conform to a certain hifi standard (which
in itself is debatable).

As far as I'm concerned, audio still is mostly a subjective area.

--

"Audio as a serious hobby is going down the tubes."
- Howard Ferstler, 25/4/2005