"Fella" wrote in message


I think this would be more beneficial reading:

http://www.shakti-innovations.com/questions.htm

This would be a more beneficial experience: www.pcabx.com .

The PCABX web site provides listeners with the opportunity to make sonic
judgments based on just sound quality. PCABX test listening conditions
are optimized as much as possible, in order to facilitate sensitive results.
PCABX tests can address theoretical questions such as "What does THD sound
like, and how much can I hear", or comparisons of the sound quality of
various pieces of equipment.

Until PCABX very few audiophiles had the opportunity to compare audio
products based on just sound quality, with so many relevant parameters and
conditions held constant and optimized. Therefore, many so-called sonic
judgments have no doubt been made based on non-sonic as well as random sonic
factors that are irrelevant to a product's basic inherent sound quality.
These factors include appearance, level matching, and the timing of musical
passages being listened to.

Some of these non-sonic factors such as appearance do relate to how products
rate in the mind of a typical consumer. However, most consumers agree that
sound quality is the most important thing and should be considered first.
While most consumers want good-looking equipment, product appearance is
generally good enough that a wide variety products are acceptable if their
sound quality is top-rate.

Other factors such as level matching and timing of musical passages being
listened to are so completely uncontrolled in most home and stereo shop
listening tests as to constitute a clear and irrelevant confusing variable.
PCABX provides a means for important factors like level matching and timing
of musical passages to be held precisely constant.

Another important factor in listening tests is listener training. Casual
listening is generally not the best way to hear small differences. However,
it is well known that subtle differences can build up in the listener's mind
over a period of time and lead to stress, displeasure and listener fatigue.
PCABX provides several means by which even a naive listener can be educated
to listen reliably for subtle differences.