Recent content by COF

  1. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    As with all things Geoff Kait, POE's Law is in play. But it's good to see you are still around, Geoff!
  2. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    My gawd. That's insane. Kudos to you for managing to put together a system like that. Must sound mind blowing.
  3. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    I just need to register my drooling over your system. MBL 101s were a long time aspiration for me. (Couldn't afford them, but got a deal on a pair of MBL 121s which I owned for many years and loved them).
  4. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Researchers Floyd Toole and Dr. Sean Olive have pointed to blind speaker tests with a range of listeners, from novices to professional audio reviewers. The audio reviewers did not score any better than the novices, as I recall. Not a big enough sample size to be definitive, but to the degree...
  5. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Sure. Take someone who considers themselves to be a "critical listener" and test them. Not a big deal. The point isn't so much being a critical listener or not: it's finding out whether someone can actually hear what they claim to hear. So if an audiophile says "I can easily tell cable A...
  6. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    So a thread based on strawmen? Why do that?
  7. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    You mean, I think, if something specific makes a difference....this.... We already know that absorption and diffusion can make audible differences in a room. It's reliable science, the physics and psycho acoustics relatively well understood. I therefore wouldn't see the need, personally, to...
  8. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    But, again, that is because the psychological variable is controlled for. And the psychological variables can be in the form of manifesting as actual "physical" feelings/symptoms (your stomach really can get upset) and/or incorrect inferences "the pill caused my stomach upset last night" (where...
  9. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Not at all. That's why I said early that obviously we hear real things all the time. Exactly. That's the point. IF we are looking for higher confidence levels, then a scientific approach makes sense, in which you control for things like imagination. You could be hearing something real, but...
  10. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    I'm pretty amazed to see a scientist rejecting the relevance of blind testing, just because "human psychology" is involved. Blind testing is a standard method in science BECAUSE of human psychology! To take any of countless examples: My son was part of a study concerning a new treatment for...
  11. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Ron, I agree that can be the case. Dogmatic thinking can be found anywhere. On the other hand, a lot of people using the Golden Ear "trust your ears" approach don't seem to recognize the dogmatism of their own approach. At least with the "objectivist" take, the point is to actually be open to...
  12. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Hi Lee! Sure, but remember...as I pointed out earlier in the thread...if we are really bringing science in to this, then the scientific method is to first have a reliable way of demonstrating X exists, before you have to go explaining X. That's why science isn't busy "trying to explain why...
  13. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Of course it will. Perceptual biases are well known, well studied, and can be invoked reliably via experiments. If you have someone listen to an audio device, say a cable, and then have that person listen to EXACTLY the same device, but tell them it's a different device, the listener will...
  14. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    Yes, that is exactly all you needed to do. ;-) Which has been my point. It doesn't matter what knowledge someone has, or thinks he has. It's about the method. Every audiophile tweak ever dreamed up was "confirmed true" by that method, trusting one's ears. And as I said, it's a subset of...
  15. C

    Does Everything Make a Difference?

    That depends on the unbeliever and what the claim concerns. There are plenty of situations in which, yes, anecdotal claims are not reliable evidence. There's a good reason why anecdotal "I saw a perpetual motion machine" claims are far from reliable enough to establish known, reliable physics...

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing