wrote in message ...
My basic problem is I believe the blind testing itself knocks out
many
significant "ways" of hearing beyond just sight

I don't understand what it is you're saying.Your ears and your eyes
don't need to both be "on" to work, and blind testing is the most
reliable way to find out wether or not we actually HEAR any differences
between players.

I am saying that blind testing has not been verified as to its validity for
hearing some of the subtle differences audiophiles seem to notice. Nor is
this just wishful thinking.

The fact is: hearing is a combination of physical propagation and complex
brain evaluation. Plenty of studies show that different awareness states
and emotional states affect which parts / how the brain interprets data.
When evaluating components, we are trying to judge "musical accuracy"
against some remembered archetypes of what live music sounds like. It is
not at all impossible that when forced into a comparative mode the brain
evaluates sound differently than in a relaxed, listening mode. It is not at
all impossible that such things as a sense of ultimate transparency, a sense
that all is right or not in how equipment handles micro- and macro-
dynamics, etc. may be affected by the test itself. We do know that the
brain is "hard wired" in some cases to evaluate music; we do not know
whether this "hard wiring" is overcome by other senses in doing comparative
evaluation. We do know that blind comparative testing can handle static
loudness differences, static frequency response differences. That is all we
really know. The validation for use of these test techniques, borrowed from
eudiometry, for general open-ended evaluation of audio gear has not been
done. The assumption that it is valid is just that...an assumption. And
the typical response to these objections is that validation is not needed,
since loudness and frequency response explain everything anyway.

I for one do not buy it...until such time as the testing has been
specifically validated with regard to these concerns, I and many others will
simply follow our instincts that not everything we hear is an illusion.