[c. leeds]

Arny Krueger wrote:

One important lesson of our early days with ABX (now 30 years ago) was that
when auditioning modern non-acoustical gear, as most audiophiles and
reviewers do, biased or random results are *certain*.

Congratulations, Arny. You've changed a discussion about a preference -
for listening to equipment before purchase - into an ABX discussion in
one simple, illogical step.

Both recordists and live sound professionals tend to use the word audiophile
as a perjorative. Synonym with clueless and opinionated.

Whatever.

Choosing gear that can
logically be expected to sound alike, based on a listening test is certainly
nonsensical.

But I never said that I did that. I simply said that I prefer to listen
before I buy. This act of listening sure troubles a few of you on this
group, but that's your problem. Some people buy a new car without
driving it first, others buy clothes without tying them on. That's their
preference.

There is no rational reason to prefer one audio component over another based
on sound quality when they cannot be distingushed based on sound quality.

That's the logical fallacy known as "begging the question."