[Audio_Empire[_2_]]

On Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7:00:27 AM UTC-8, KH wrote:
On 1/7/2013 9:03 PM, Audio_Empire wrote:

On Monday, January 7, 2013 4:24:08 PM UTC-8, wrote:



snip



I think Mark is on to something there, but I'm not terribly sure that you quite

understood what he was saying.



What I got out of Marks post, if I understand this correctly, is that he believes

that devices which cannot be distinguished from one another by DBTs and

possibly even on long listening sessions or by bench measurements, may still,

on a subconscious level, affect the pleasure centers of the brain in different

ways. I think we have all experienced this in one way or another. Even though

one can't put one's finger on it, for some reason B is "more pleasurable" to

listen to than A.



Then how is it that they cannot be distinguished? Your postulate is

clearly that there is a perceived difference in A and B. If you're

saying one is more pleasurable, but can't be perceived as such, then

you're claiming mutually exclusive attributes.





This, if a real phenomenon, would certainly defy any attempts

at testing it



How so? Any double blind preference test would clearly identify a

statistically significant preference for A or B.





Keith

Someone is still not "getting it", I think. Subconscious differences that
stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain may not show up as differences
in the normal sense. Differences noted (or not noted) between components
in DBT or ABX test act upon the analytical centers of the conscious mind.
On that level, there may be no discernible differences. But on a subliminal
level, these differences might just register as a greater amount of pleasure
for one component over the other. I said earlier that there would be no
way to test this. On further reflection, I think that's wrong. I believe that
a DBT could be easily set-up to test such a hypothesis. If the listener
didn't know which two components to which he or she was listening,
and could listen to the same full recording before switching and then
listen to the other DUT for the entire same recording again, and then
chose either A or B based on the amount of "pleasure" he or she received
from listening to the recording twice, perhaps it would be useful. I know
that I have often compared two amps, two preamps and two DACs that
way, and have often preferred one over the other, without being able
to put my finger on exactly why.

Another example is that I have the Classic Records repressing (on
single-sided, 200 gram virgin vinyl at 45 RPM) of Stravinsky's
"Firebird" by Dorati and the LSO. I also have the same recording on
CD. Both the CD and the remastered LP were overseen by the
work's original producer, Wilma Fine. Being the same original
analog recording from the same master tape, they of course, sound
essentially the same. But for some reason that I cannot explain,
I find myself pulling out the LP to play rather than the
(excellent sounding) CD. With all of its pops and ticks, I find the
LP a much more pleasurable listen than is the CD.

Regards,
Audio_Empire