(ludovic mirabel)
Date: 8/13/03 1:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:
wrote:
Let me tell you something about the real-life "listening tests".
You're familiar no doubt with a very low-tech instrument called
stethoscope. At an early stage in the medical school introductory
lessons to clinical medicine- ie. introductory lessons to train those
who will one day hold life-death issues in their hands- it becomes
apparent that a few hear more and most hear less. All of them using
the same technology and all of them with young,undamaged ears.. Those
who hear more assume that there is even more to hear when an
instructor says so. So they practice. A few of those become
cardiologists who had better hear heart murmurs inaudible to the
generality of physicians. It is their responsibility to decide whether
to direct the patient for surgery or hold off for a time.
Now the interesting thing to observe was that some of the med.
students who couldn't hear were quite aggressive about it and accused
their colleagues and their teachers of fantasising.
Till the technology supplied new tools. Phonocardiogram demonstrated
not just two or 3 or 4 but 6 different heart sounds. We trained and
some of us began hearing more. But not all- or else there would be no
specialisties and no specialists more equal than the other
specialists.


This example is very similar to the "training" path most audiophiles go
through. At some point one with a passion for music is exposed to High End
equipment for the first time. It is a revelation and he can't believe what he
can hear/enjoy in the music reproduction and what he has been missing from his
pedestrian system. So he now embarks on a journey to explore and learn all he
can about better audio equipment. He goes to a High End dealer and compares a
couple of preamps (for example). He may hear some differences but he isn't
sure what he's hearing and can't verbalize what the differences are. At this
point it's all very confusing.

Over the next few years, he does much more equipment comparisons in audio
stores, on friends' systems and on his own system until his ears are trained to
hear the differences between the components and identify them reliably. He
discusses the differences with fellow audiophiles where there is much agreement
on what they all hear, but opinions differ on which each prefers or which is
more "accurate". These debates fuel late night listening sessions.

At some point, at the urging of a skeptical friend, the audiophile engages in a
"blind listening test" with a couple of familiar components. Where did the
audible differences he had easily identified earlier disappear to? He's back to
his original state of confusion. Did the blind test filter out the differences
(most likely) or had he imagined the differences he and his friends had
identified (not likely). So he leaves blind testing to the rabid minority on
RAHE, and proceeds to enjoy his audio/music appreciation hobby with his friends
and never thinks about blind testing again.

Like the cardiologists in the above example, he goes on to trust his ears
rather than some questionable application of a test that acts a filter to his
hearing, and finds much much enjoyment with his hobby and audiophile friends.
The blind testers on the other hand, become like the general practitioners
above or drop out of medicine (and audio) completely.

Sound familiar? How many of you fit this profile?
Regards,
Mike