Amir and Blind Testing


Let me start by saying I like watching Amir from ASR, so please let’s not get harsh or the thread will be deleted. Many times, Amir has noted that when we’re inserting a new component in our system, our brains go into (to paraphrase) “analytical mode” and we start hearing imaginary improvements. He has reiterated this many times, saying that when he switched to an expensive cable he heard improvements, but when he switched back to the cheap one, he also heard improvements because the brain switches from “music enjoyment mode” to “analytical mode.” Following this logic, which I agree with, wouldn’t blind testing, or any A/B testing be compromised because our brains are always in analytical mode and therefore feeding us inaccurate data? Seems to me you need to relax for a few hours at least and listen to a variety of music before your brain can accurately assess whether something is an actual improvement.  Perhaps A/B testing is a strawman argument, because the human brain is not a spectrum analyzer.  We are too affected by our biases to come up with any valid data.  Maybe. 

chayro

 

Amirm is doing a terrific service to the audiophile community.

You don't have to bow to him as a "cult leader" (ridiculous meme going around) or believe everything he says is beyond critique.   His reviews are quite well vetted even on the ASR forum, where his methods and conclusions are examined.

But taking on manufacturers claims and to the extent possible examining what objective evidence can be gleaned or not in terms of measurements is providing one hell of a lot more information than we are finding in most other places (manufacturer's marketing most of all).

There is a part of the Golden Ears crowd who have an almost mystical belief in their own incorruptible, observational powers - "science can't tell me I'm wrong!  I EXPERIENCED IT."    Those people will likely never be reached.  

 

And of course as I've argued many times, no audiophile has to pay any attention to measurements or science - we can all buy whatever we want, for whatever reason.

But Amirm is providing some extra information for those who seek it, which is great.

 

You are right....

The problem like i said is not Amir himself, but his disciples crowd... Testing gear by measuring tools is not the same as participating to an ideological cult....The problem was never Christ but his successive fanatical disciples...

Tool testing obsession reductionism  is not better than gear tasting brand name subjectivism...

Reality is not binary game and i know that you know it for sure....

 

And of course as I’ve argued many times, no audiophile has to pay any attention to measurements or science - we can all buy whatever we want, for whatever reason.

But Amirm is providing some extra information for those who seek it, which is great.

 

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agisthos,

 

Amir is the high priest of the ASR cult.

^^^ Not a very promising start.

Years ago, they were militantly claiming that changes to the power supply of dvd/blu-ray players could not possibly have any effect on the video output, because bits are bits and the power supply does not effect the bits.

Given HDMI has been the default transmission method for many years, that claim is correct. Luminance information, like color and other picture values, is encoded in the digital signal.

It is NOT determined by the power supply to a blu ray player. A pixel on the display either receives the information or it doesn’t. (And when it doesn’t, artifacts can occur but they are not of the type you are describing - a rise in brightness level or color saturation of the displayed image).

 

It was a theoretical argument,

LOL, no it wasn’t. It’s literally how digital video information works - which is shown in practice millions of times a day (at least). If it didn’t, we would be having a heck of a lot of image problems that we just aren’t having.

 

which was easily disproven by doing any changes from SMPS to LPS, which on the meter would measure visible changes in brightness levels, let alone color measurement differences and detail improvements.

I call B.S.

Show me the evidence you are speaking of where (I presume using HDMI) changing the power supply to a blu ray player measurably altered the brightness, color etc of the image.

I’ve been a member over at ASR forum for 20 years, where professionals and dedicated enthusiasts have been exchanging notes on calibration - using all sorts of sensitive equipment - and NO ONE has reported anything like that, nor any measurable changes between two properly functioning HDMI cables. Because....that’s not how it works.

 

And it’s just this type of nonsense that we can be thankful there are people like Amirm around to test.

 

 

 

No one can contest the useful analysis of gear made by someone like Amir...

The problem is in the IDEOLOGICAL general stance...

No one can contest the importance first and last of perceiving subjectivity by audiophiles...

The problem is in the general IDEOLOGICAL stance...

Amir like an audiophile look at the gear not at the room...The focus of their attention in the two groups is the brand name gear, one measure it the other think he hear  the gear alone and taste it...

Acoustic is forgotten  by the two groups...is it not comical?

 

 

I myself experimented the fact that most of PERCEIVED S.Q. is an acoustic and psycho-acoustic phenomena...Not mainly an electrical engineering one...

Then correlating objective measures and the guiding subjectivity at play is the crux of the matter...

Anyway i dont use non acoustical tool , i am not an electrical engineer, and i know that sound dont come from the gear alone in my room but from the gear+room...

Then i stay mute when the 2 cultist groups will battle between them but it is difficult to stay silent for me....

The two group are the same RCA conditioned dog, sometimes he listen directly to the gramophone and sometimes the dog measure it oblivious each time of the room acoustic and psycho-acoustic phenomena...

the two groups are the results of the same market conditioning...

😁😊

 

 

 

The most important word concept in audio world is: CORRELATION between the subjective impression and some external objective disposition...

The measuring is not enough... Perceiving is not enough.... We must correlate them to IMPROVE the two at the same times...Like it is necessary to learn how to correlate by meditation the two main part of our brain hemispheres and we must learn how to CORRELATE our focus and peripheral attention.... Then unlike the RCA dog we must also learn how to listen with our subjectivity and measure the room not only the gear brand name.... 😁😊