Beware the audio guru


There are a few contributors to these forums who apparently see themselves as gurus. They speak in absolutes, using words such as "always" and "never." They make pronouncements about products or techniques they’ve never heard or experienced, justifying their conclusions because contrary claims are "impossible" or "snake oil." Those who disagree are accused of being "deluded," or suffering some insurmountable bias, or attempting to further some commercial agenda. On occasion, they have taunted detractors with an appeal that they engage in a wager - one guy wanted $25,000 cash up front and an agreement drafted by lawyers. Another offered 5-to-1 odds.

I am not going to tell you who to believe. But for anyone who might be uncertain about sorting out conflicting claims here, I suggest they consider the behavior of experts in other fields. No good doctor offers a 100 percent guarantee on any treatment or surgical procedure, even if medical science suggests success. No good attorney will tell you that you have a case that positively can’t be lost, even if the law appears to be on your side. No true professional will insult you for the questions you ask, or abandon you if you seek a second opinion.

A doctor conducts his own tests. An engineer makes his own measurements. Neither will insist the burden of documentation falls upon you.

These might be details to consider as you sift through the many conflicting claims made on Audiogon. In short: Decide for yourself. Don’t let other people tell you how to think, or listen.
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dlcockrum
IMO, after reading some of the posts here, the thread should have been titled "Beware the Blowhards".
I was trying to be polite.

I think this may be relevant to this discussion - When I had my first real opportunity to do a recording as a drummer back in the late 70's, I was shocked to hear a rather large disparity between what I thought I played and what I actually played.  I realized that, while I was playing, I was hearing what I thought I played.  It was only through a long period of playing and listening to playbacks was I able to train my ears to hear what I was actually playing as I was playing it.  I think other recording musicians may be able to back me up on this one.  Hearing is not a microphone to speaker process.  Little physical movements of the earbones and eardrums are translated to impulses which then filter through our funhouse of a brain, which may distort the reality of the impulses to a god-knows-what degree.  Just like eyesight.  That's why anorexics look in the mirror and see themselves as fat.  It's not what they see, it's what they think they see.  This is getting complicated.  
Part of how to not be a turnip, or the follow up from my last post.
Seek comfort and you die ...and condemn your children, and children’s children.... to being turnips....ever downward, ever less alive, ever less human:

Brain over brawn?

Previous research found correlations between large brain size in species and complex social structures, living in challenging environments, and an ability to learn lessons from peers—also described as "culture".

But no studies have been able to conclude whether these factors are the cause of brain expansion, or the result of it.

With colleague Andy Gardner, Gonzalez-Forero developed a mathematical model to measure whether being confronted with ecological and social problems has a measurable impact on brain growth, and if yes, how much.

Model "brains" were presented with ecological challenges—finding prey in bad weather or in tough terrain, for example, preserving food to protect it against mold or heat spoilage, or storing water amid drought.

Social challenges were introduced too, to test the influence on brain growth of cooperation and competition between individuals and groups.

Interestingly, cooperation was associated with a decrease in brain size, the researchers said—probably because it allows individuals to rely on each other’s resources and to save energy by growing smaller brains themselves.

"We find that increasingly difficult ecological problems expand brains, but social demands fail to lead to human sized brains," Gonzalez-Forero told AFP.

But why did human brains grow more than those of other animals living in challenging environments?

Probably because of culture—the ability to learn skills from others rather than having to figure everything out for ourselves.

"So, our results suggest that it is the interaction of hard ecology and culture that produced the human brain size," said Gonzalez-Forero.



Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-human-brains-big.html#jCp


To be comfortable, to seek comforts and be ’happy’ in the middle of the herd and be accepted... is to condemn your own genes (and your own daily expression in motion) and their expression... into the downward spiral of automaton and idiocy.

The action, the future, and the growth of humanity... and most specifically, growth of the individual...is that place where the darkness of the unknown begins..the edges. When one is there, and communicates about it... the condemnation, screeching, ridicule, and rejection from the middle of the herd..becomes the loudest.

One is dumbing on down, the other is -stepping on up.
So what’s it gonna be? Comfort and peace, suckling and quiet, or the future and the growth?

I’ve been on that path of being in constant discomfort, and on the edges of it, reaching into the darkness, since I was 12 ...and realized it was the only way out of ’death by simplicity and comforts’. I will not walk down the road - like everyone else. There’s nothing there.

If you look carefully and wisely enough, everything in this life and world is pointing you right at this understanding. It should not take a scientific article to make it real in your mind. That would not be the correct method and way....as it would be the dead automaton way (life as a spaceholder for inactivated genes?). Making everyone else lift your load, you see... which is exactly the problem the article itself raises.

And much more, of course. It's only a simple post on a forum...
This is getting complicated.


The closer to the edge you get, the the more of the self the problem consumes. It’s the mental equivalent of attempting to reach light speed. Just one way of expressing it that might help.
Your post is also highly revealing more of the true nature of the Laurel vs Yanny issue that was recently brought to light.

And is part of how we create our own sensory input filter and apply previously cognated aspects to our new cognition, as a short cut in time, in order to posses a faster form of sensory recognition in the given moment. Ie we pull from our library of heard and seen things, when we encounter the new.

This is why some say that cables make no difference.

They’ve wired themselves to be aurally ’blind’. Seriously.

Then the insistence that fuses make no difference, even when a purely engineering and scientific analysis says the opposite., and such analysis supports what people say they hear.

Negative proofing keeps the middle of the herd safe, and makes everyone else lift their load. Additionally, it kills and dumbs down the edges of the herd via directed force..all when the edges of the herd --is what is actually keeping the middle of the herd alive.

Being on the edges of the herd forces one to contend with the projected violence and insanity that pours out of the middle of the herd. Even though the middle of the herd sees it as the opposite.

Throughout the full encompassed, er, scope of this..er..mess...the human system of life is borne.

Which has the more raw deal? The edges where the action is but one is constantly attacked and torn down by the middle, or the dead minds and lives of the middle - who have no idea how dead they are?

"This is getting complicated!" you sez...

"Good!" the universe says, as it grins, and gleefully picks up a pointed stick -and pokes it in your I.
Note that there is no actual engineering or scientific analysis proving that allegedly "better and way more expensive" fuses make a difference relative to a working stock fuse IN THE SOUND OF THINGS. They're exclusively supported by "claims" of hearing things, which in my experience (extensively testing and comparing the damn things) is just silly when these claims , although possibly sincere, don't take into account what fuses actually do with their tiny meltable wires. Hyperbole driven opinions don't do any favors for the often sales driven purveyors of fringe tweaks, a fact lost on many when large profits or insecurity by listeners come into play, "Mom, I spent 150 bucks on this fuse so I MUST hear better cello tone and an expanded soundstage or I'm simply unworthy...schedule a session with my therapist now..."