[Audio Empire]

On Sat, 2 Apr 2011 20:21:09 -0700, bob wrote
(in article ):

On Apr 1, 7:40=A0pm, "Harry Lavo" wrote:

Conventional ABX'ng has never been shown to be valid in evaluating MUSIC
differences that other approaches (the aforementioned Oohashi test) and e=
ven
the ABC/hr test have proven better at. =A0Yet ABX is the test that Arny
developed a computerized version of, and has relied on.

This is a good example of subjectivists' penchant for inventing
science. (There have been plenty of others in this thread.) Harry
takes it upon himself to declare something to be true--that our
hearing perception is somehow different for music than for other
sounds--without a shred of evidence.

In fact, DBTs have been accepted as valid by the field of
psychoacoustics (of which Harry is not a part and in which he has no
training), to the point where no peer reviewed journal will accept
reports of listening tests that are NOT double-blind.

The claim that human hearing perception is more acute when listening
to music is not only unproven but false. Music, because of its dynamic
changes and the phenomenon of masking, makes for a very poor medium
for objective listening tests of any kind.

Someone is confusing hearing acumen with LISTENING acumen. It is pretty well
established that most normal people hear the same range of sounds, both as to
frequency response and dynamic range and that they respond to these things in
a similar way. OTOH, some people, when listening to music, hear things in
music that other people miss entirely. This is LISTENING ability. You
encounter all the time the myth about "golden-eared audiophiles". Well, I'm
sure that I need to tell no one here that there is no such thing. But there
are audiophiles who have trained themselves to listen for the minutest
anomalies in the reproduction of music by audio gear. There's nothing
"golden" about it, all it takes is a willingness to do it and many years of
listening experience. Anyone can do it, it just takes discipline and
dedication. Of course, the reality is that most people don't bother. Most
audiophiles don't even develop the skill. Noticing that others have developed
this ability has given rise to the "golden-ear" myth. Everyone knows the old
saw, "you look but you do not see." Well, the audio implementation of that
old saw is, "you listen but you do not hear."