"Wally" wrote in message


It seems to me that the idea of blind testing is that it assumes the
listener is unable to separate what he hears from what he thinks he
hears - that the piece of kit that is considered to be 'better'
actually does sound better to him, and that blind testing eliminates
such preconceptions or biases and permits a more impartial comparison.

That is a well known fact in the cases where the difference is subtle or
controversial.

While I realise that a biased opinion can occur in a non-blind test,
I don't think it's neccessarily so.

Depends on the size of the difference.

If there is a detectable
difference between, say, the sound of a ride cymbal played on two
different bits of kit, then that difference must be a detectable one,
regardless of whether or the listener knows which bit of kit is being
used. Were it otherwise, then the difference wouldn't be detectable
in either kind of test.

Again, you are running way wide of the topic at hand.

In other words, the problem isn't some inherent drawback in the
nature of a given test, but in the approach or attitude of the
tester.

The problem primarily depends on the size of the difference. There are many
cases where people have estimated low when they estimated the size of the
difference, and were later on highly embarassed or at least mislead.

That notwithstanding, it's my view that, by the time the
differences are so small that blind testing is deemed to be
neccessary, then the differences are so small that they're neither
here nor there.

There is quite a bit of middle ground. If you want to experience it for
yourself, please visit www.pcabx.com.

In your case it was 'crap DVD player' vs 'decent DAC' which isnt
exactly a subtle difference ;-)

I refer the honourable gentleman to my later posting, in which I
bring ****e and sugar into the discussion. :-)

Most just ****e.

It's clear that you're speaking quite hypothetically about blind tests - you
don't have any relevant audio experiences. I've just told you how to get
wised up for free and in complete privacy.