John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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Try buying an actual dictionary.

You think it will give different results? Dream on :rolleyes: Here's the result from one of the physical dictionaries I have :

preconceived opinon that is not based on reason or actual experience

That indicates that its not evidence based and therefore can't be overturned in the light of evidence.

I find the OED quite useful.

As a paperweight?
 
You think it will give different results? Dream on :rolleyes: Here's the result from one of the physical dictionaries I have :

preconceived opinon that is not based on reason or actual experience

That indicates that its not evidence based and therefore can't be overturned in the light of evidence.

I went and dusted off my paperweight, er, I man OED...

The most favorable definition I find is:

3. Preconceived opinion; bias or leaning favourable or unfavourable; presupposition ; when used absolutely, usually with unfavourable connotation.

I find no instance where "prejudice" has anything other than a negative connotation.

Sorry SY.

se
 
Who really has a copy of the Great Oxford Dictionary ?

"
†2.
a. The action of judging an event beforehand; prognostication, presaging. Obs.
b. A prior judgement; esp. a judgement formed hastily or before due consideration. Obs.

†3. A preliminary or anticipatory judgement; a preconceived idea as to what will happen; an anticipation. Obs.
"

As noted, the above two definitions are daggered (obsolete).

OED.jpg



"Our former despair by degrees gave place to more sanguine prejudices." Voy. round World by Anson



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More on topic ? There is something to be said for written manufactures' specifications. For example, I've wondered about Sennheiser headphone specification of 103 dB (1 Vrms). Just checked . . . my headphones meet specification.

(Still looking into power inlet noise . . . new parts arrived today.)


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AX tech editor
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Being convinced by reading whatever is one thing. Being convinced by hearing the results with one's own ears is a different thing. Since conventional measurements aren't telling how a piece of gear sounds to the ear, at least not in full, they are irrelevant here.

There was an interesting workshop at the AES on why audible diferences that can be heard 'sighted' often disappear when switching to 'blind' testing.
I will not bore you with all the details (the full writeup will be in my AES report for audioXpress) but there's one point of interest.

Neurological research has shown that when you drink, say, classic coke, the SAME brain perception areas are active, in the same way, as when you drink zero coke but EXPECT to drink classic coke. Called "neurological modulation" of the perception. So far nothing new, we all know about these things.

BUT, what is interesting is that it is not a matter of fooling yourself or deluding yourself, no, you actually perceive that SAME taste as if you were drinking classic, even if in reality you drink zero!

If we port this to audio, and someone reports that with, say, bybees he perceives, say a 'blacker background', he actually does! Even if physically, objectively, there is NO change whatsoever to the sound.

Going even further, that means that buying snake oil actually can give you a perceptible improvement and therefor is money well spend, even if there is NO physical effect on the sound as such.
Interesting, ain't it?

jan didden
 
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