if done right, better equipment will sound better..and certainly changing tubes can make a significant difference...
Is positive reinforcement why things are sounding better?
So I buy a nice amplifier and later I buy a nice preamplifier and then later I buy Nice speaker cables and each time things seem to improve nicely.
And then I buy telefunken 12ax7 nos tubes for a tube amplifier, and improved tonality, clarity and a tighter sound is what I get and it's very engaging (tubes are only a few days old). The cymbals seem to come through with more openness.
Things seem to be sounding pretty good and I'm saying to myself is it real or is it just positive reinforcement playing with my head? And the devil is telling me oh let's buy more NOS tubes for the rest of the amplifier. The effects of positive reinforcement can be very expensive.
Just curious if positive reinforcement experiences have occurred for others, and how can you really tell?
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Well said. I tried to lie to myself about Be tweeters until I just...couldn't...take it.
That's not true for me. I don't actually know. I have a hold of a few preferences, but one of my experiences with hearing new systems is getting a new idea of how something can hang together beautifully. In this sense, hearing new audio systems is like traveling to new places -- you just can't conceive it until you go there. |
Confirmation biases has nothing to do with "lying to ourself" in particular or specifically ... «Confirmation bias (also confirmatory bias, myside bias,[a] or congeniality bias[2]) is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.[3] People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias is insuperable for most people, but they can manage it, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills. »
For 40 years by acoustic ignorance i was comforted in the choice of speakers i made, by all i read, all i experienced , till the end when i sold them not because i was lying to myself but because i was ignorant of acoustics and the way to make them really shine at their optimal. ( which would had been like comparing day and night for ANY speakers anyway) My confirmation set of biases was born from all the reviews i read for 40 years confirming the Tannoy dual gold as top speakers AS IT IS plug and play... I did know nothing about acoustics optimization extraordinary tools . I was deluded by their reputation , price tags at the time (high end), and my limited knowledge and all others speakers i experienced put in a living room with no acoustics particular caution confirmed me in my biases...I felt good as i was comforted in my set of biases by time passing and by comparison ...
This is certainly mostly true because we know what are the parameters at play which must be put under controls for a specific speakers design to make it shine in a SPECIFIC ROOM ... A bookshelf is not a big magnepan for example... Once the right electrical, mechanical and acoustical working conditions are adressed we will had natural timbre and listener envelopment. In the window of possibility resulting from the gear pieces design choices and trade-off ... Only passive consumers will have no idea about what could be the optimal experience and how to make it possible for the chosen pieces of gear...
For sure if i travel as a tourist from one showroom to another i will never had any idea about how the next system will be and i will learn almost nothing because it is not me that played with the speakers/room parameters to improve them ... my tourism audiophile will only confirm my own biases i will call my tastes... 😊
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I bought a pair of NOS Mullard’s for my tube DAC that cost half what I paid for the DAC. I swap them out from time to time with some much cheaper NOS Telefunken Diamond mark’s. The Mullard’s sound significantly better to me. And the Tele’s sound way better than the stock new Sovtek’s the DAC came with. Sometimes you get what you pay for. |
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