[paul packer]

Do you think Harry is lying?

It is very clear that Harry doesn't know better. He's a high end audio true
believer.


I have a question, Arnold. If true believers are deluding themselves
with the improvements they claim to hear, both by upgrading equipment
and performing tweaks, why do they seem to hear improvements sometimes
and not others? I mean. you say that sighted listening is unreliable
because the listener could be influenced by the visual impressiveness
or sheer reputation of a piece of equipment, but it can easily be
demonstrated that "audiophools" will often turn their noses up at the
more expensive or better credentialed equipment in favour of something
more modest or obscure--happens all the time. Likewise with tweaks,
some will appear to offer improvement, others not; or they offer
improvement on one piece of equipment but not another of the same type
(a la damping on Harry's CD player but not DVD player). I've
encountered this myself. I once damped the lid of a Sony CD65 player
and the sound improved markedly. Great, I thought, and few months
later I tried the same trick on a NAD CD player expecting similar
improvements. Nope, nothing, it sounded exactly the same. So if
self-delusion is the cause, why was I not deluded into hearing an
improvement in the NAD player? Indeed, having bought the NAD as an
upgrade, why did I not hear any improvement in the basic, unmodified
player--- since I'd paid good money for it, shouldn't I have deluded
myself into thinking it was actually better sounding when it wasn't?
I'm most confused by this psychological conundrum, Arnie, and
desperately hoping you can offer some plausible explanation.