analoglovr wrote:
" N80 if you’re interested read up on confirmation bias and expectation bias. This is the reason for all the folks claiming that things sound wildly better when they’ve spent 1000s on a cable."
I'm actually very familiar with those things. I've dealt directly with clinical trials in my lifetime and assess the merits of them regularly. When dealing with humans subjective measurements are difficult and even more difficult to attach meaning to. The mind has a powerful effect not only on how we perceive reality but how we respond to it. The placebo effect, which is very relevant to this conversation, is a good example. In one study on placebo effect subjects who were extremely sensitive to poison oak were blindfolded and told poison oak leaves were being rubbed on their arm. It was actually an inert material. Despite this a certain percentage of the test group developed a rash where they were touched with the inert substance. No one in the control group did.
Anyway, I see exact parallels to these conversations in the photography world and in the automotive performance world.
Whenever I explore a new pursuit like this or photography or whatever, there is always a certain level of skepticism that any said expenditure for any said improvement is actually going to be real. I am often shocked how much actual, real improvement there is as you go from lower end gear (like lenses, camera sensors, etc) to the better equipment. You feel and know that the money spent has been worthwhile and it is easy to see and easy to prove. I firmly believe that this cost vs improvement curve goes up steeply for quite a while. But I also believe that at the higher end of the curve the performance curve begins to flatten out as expenditures continue to rise, usually more steeply. At this level the amount of money spent buys you very very little. I also believe that there comes a point that the performance goes completely flat even as expenditures go up. High cost, no yield.
I'm not correlating any thing in the audiophile world with any point on this curve. But it is always my goal to seek that sweet spot where the curve starts to flatten out, stop spending money and know that I'm getting the most out of my budget. That sweet spot is going to be in different places for different people. But with significant experience in the photography world, I know there are folks who delight in that part of the curve where cost is high and the benefits are subtle at best. Nothing wrong with that as long as they don't try to convince me that the curve is still going up when it isn't.
Of course the best thing to do in that situation is to thank them, shut up and walk away. I haven't got that down yet.
" N80 if you’re interested read up on confirmation bias and expectation bias. This is the reason for all the folks claiming that things sound wildly better when they’ve spent 1000s on a cable."
I'm actually very familiar with those things. I've dealt directly with clinical trials in my lifetime and assess the merits of them regularly. When dealing with humans subjective measurements are difficult and even more difficult to attach meaning to. The mind has a powerful effect not only on how we perceive reality but how we respond to it. The placebo effect, which is very relevant to this conversation, is a good example. In one study on placebo effect subjects who were extremely sensitive to poison oak were blindfolded and told poison oak leaves were being rubbed on their arm. It was actually an inert material. Despite this a certain percentage of the test group developed a rash where they were touched with the inert substance. No one in the control group did.
Anyway, I see exact parallels to these conversations in the photography world and in the automotive performance world.
Whenever I explore a new pursuit like this or photography or whatever, there is always a certain level of skepticism that any said expenditure for any said improvement is actually going to be real. I am often shocked how much actual, real improvement there is as you go from lower end gear (like lenses, camera sensors, etc) to the better equipment. You feel and know that the money spent has been worthwhile and it is easy to see and easy to prove. I firmly believe that this cost vs improvement curve goes up steeply for quite a while. But I also believe that at the higher end of the curve the performance curve begins to flatten out as expenditures continue to rise, usually more steeply. At this level the amount of money spent buys you very very little. I also believe that there comes a point that the performance goes completely flat even as expenditures go up. High cost, no yield.
I'm not correlating any thing in the audiophile world with any point on this curve. But it is always my goal to seek that sweet spot where the curve starts to flatten out, stop spending money and know that I'm getting the most out of my budget. That sweet spot is going to be in different places for different people. But with significant experience in the photography world, I know there are folks who delight in that part of the curve where cost is high and the benefits are subtle at best. Nothing wrong with that as long as they don't try to convince me that the curve is still going up when it isn't.
Of course the best thing to do in that situation is to thank them, shut up and walk away. I haven't got that down yet.
