It seems that many (including me) believe that the human brain generally cannot distinguish between a real perception of minute sound properties---some audible quality that can be measured if not now, at some point in the future with alien technology---and an imagined difference in sound. The subconscious audio processing part of the brain does its thing and sends the result to the higher-level (conscious) part of the brain without any datasheet showing how the result was determined. Obviously the bigger the sound difference between things, the easier it is for the real signal to overcome the imagined signal.
read this if you haven't seen it yet: blind man navigates obstacle course . A man blinded by a brain lesion was able to navigate an obstacle course. His eyes and visual processing part of the brain still apparently function, but the information doesn't get to his 'conscious' processing center. Yet somehow he's able to avoid obstacles. The most telling part for me was in another article on the topic, in which they reported that the man thought he was walking straight! imagine not knowing that you're walking around things! I believe it... the brain plays funny tricks.
let me be clear: I do think there are people who hear better than others, and I am not dismissing the possibility that there can be audible differences between cables. I have even perceived some differences. i'm not sure they are real differences though
no! that's the point! i don't think i can control my brain. In fact I know it will try to fool me. As a result, I have to take my experiences with a grain of salt. As I said above, I thought I have perceived differences between some interconnects. What I take from that is maybe there are real differences and maybe it's imagined. That isn't very satisfying, is it? I don't make the rules but i do try to remember they exist. This is why people are clamoring for more evidence. I agree it's possible there may be some sound-altering properties of cables that we cannot readily measure or presently understand. ABX testing is the only way to know for sure! of course an ABX switch box would cause additional problems... but that's for another post
so i think the difference between objectivists and subjectivists amounts to how much we trust our own perceptions
lmao! thanks for thatSY said:
Evaas,I conclude from your last post that (briefly)you accept that there are differences,you might have heard some,but you can't say 100% sure,because you cannot trust your own perception that much.
For me it is satisfactory.And I know that if someone else trusts his own perception more than you do yours,he is not necessarily wrong or cheated by his brain.
For me it is satisfactory.And I know that if someone else trusts his own perception more than you do yours,he is not necessarily wrong or cheated by his brain.
analog_sa said:
Off topic on.
The SSG available on Ebay. Exceptionally low DF and presumably completely non-microphonic. I think because of the latter the SSG is better than the Russian Tef in high voltage applications, maybe not so much at low voltages. Remove the cheesy solder tabs and insert your wire of choice into the revealed tiny exit tube. Like all metal caps not referenced one end to ground I float the body to prevent leakage capacitance. $16 plus shipping from one vendor for four 0.1 uF 350 volt, barely enough to classify as proper froofroo.
My bugbear is top end. Can't stand the Russian PIOs because of it, a denuded Russian Teflon comes closest to the mica but sounds dark in my amp. The Tef also sounds almost like it has a phenomenal resolution floor that stops dead before hitting bottom, like a noise gate. Maybe the inferior DA of the mica adding 'texture'? Overall tone for me is hard to say. I thought warm until playing around on the bench with a direct coupled SE 2A3 into AKG K 701s. It has an identical sort of warm.
Literally cheap as poutine, worth the try.
Off topic off.
Andy G said:
I would like to rephrase, if I may: properly done ABX testing is the only way to know for sure. aye, there's the rub
fredex said:
me too
when auditioning some gear with a friend many years ago I was arrogantly proclaiming how one amp had a certain harshness in the upper midrange that the other didn't, and it felt quite obvious to me. The salesman switched back and forth many times without comment and at the end told me with a smirk that I was wrong about as much as I was right with respect to identifying the amp. Now this wasn't a properly done test and I was sure that he had just mixed up the wires or confused what I was saying. In retrospect those seem to be the less probable explanations 
As for how much this cable business matters... to me any differences I may have heard seem to be minute compared to major differences in amp topology, bias, crossovers, enclosure designs, drivers, sources etc.. I want to sweat the big stuff, not the little
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