RayG
Master Poster
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Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,926
Exactly, now, what really bothers me is that they are "offended" even by the possibility of making test with their own (sacred??) equipment. Others say that they could not be bothered, that they have their own "system" to choose one equipment over the other.
The implicit postulate is that there are changes in sound, even when we, maybe, are unable to listen to them, and you can, maybe, listen to them if you are relaxed and without pressures.
How is that these people, otherwise intelligent, can fall in such state of denial?
Really, this is very easy to answer.
1) Advertisers tell them that they can hear the difference
2) The just don't understand how suggestable they are
1+2 = easily bamboozled
and....
3) The more of your own time and money that you have wrapped up in a mistaken belief, the more difficult (painful) it is to consider that you might be wrong.
Let me tell you plainly..... I have personally been CONVINCED that I could hear the difference between item A and item B on several occasions. As soon as I was blinded to which was which, I couldn't.
tsg
Philosopher
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2005
- Messages
- 6,771
Audiophiles can be a weird breed. A lot of them want to believe that their ears are so sensitive that they can pick up the slightest nuances. It's a way for them to feel superior to others and challenging their claimed abilities is challenging this superiority. This is not to say that they aren't more sensitive, but most will exaggerate that sensitivity to the point of absurdity.
I worked as a Production Manager and engineer at my college radio station. The studio equipment was fairly high-end, professional-grade stuff, but the transmitters were crap (carrier current) and the wires running to them were voice-grade phone line. There were a couple of DJ's who would come in to do their shows and the first thing they would do is adjust the equalizer despite a sign (which they had to move in order to do it) telling them not to touch it. I caught one of them and he went into a diatribe about how much better it sounded because he moved a couple of pots a quarter of an inch. When I said there wasn't any difference, he said "you're ears just aren't sensitive enough." I replied, "No, there isn't any difference because that equalizer isn't hooked up to the studio monitors you're listening to, it's connected to the transmitters to compensate for the crappy wires." He was absolutely livid that I would suggest that his abilities weren't all he thought they were and convinced that he could hear a difference. I finally had to show him the wires for the monitors came right out of the sound board and went nowhere near the equalizer before he stopped calling me a liar, but he never did admit the difference he heard was all in his head.
That's a good story but I've heard many others like it. I've even done the same thing to myself, adjusting knobs and sliders and hearing slight changes, until I check and find that the equipment wasn't hooked up the way I thought it was. It isn't a matter of being stupid because all of us are hindered by the fact that our expectations alter our perceptions of reality. Realizing this, I am very careful to make sure I'm not fooling myself when I'm working with audio and music electronics. I believe these extremist audiophiles are honest about what they are 'hearing' but they simply will not consider that it is all in their head. Maybe they could if they were more open-minded.