The elephant in the room is us humans, our perceptions are prone to suggestion and mood. How good we feel plays a huge part in everything. Marketing people of course understand this which is why they can get some to spend thousands on a few lengths of wire. Throw in quantum physics and virtually anything goes. This is of course a form of insanity but it's fairly benign compared to some. Telling folk your CD player sounded much better after a few days in the freezer is not going to make their day.....or a good impression imo. D
Often times it is used as an excuse for bad sounding cables. If you think they will get better with time and usage you convince yourself that they have gotten better. It’s confirmation bias. You get used to the sound and it now becomes familiar and proper in your mind. Ask yourself what could have changed and you realize nothing but my own perception. But if it works for you what’s the harm?
That's an awkward logic. There can be a physical explanation for an effect even if it can't be measured.
Of course. That's true even if we see ourselves as so-called 'objectivists.' All humans are subject to the effects of cognitive biases, not just the other guys.
Every physical effect can in principle be measured. We should keep that in mind. The question is are we actually: (1) measuring everything humans can possibly hear, or are we doing something more like, (2) measuring what is reasonably easy to measure and that has some limited correlation with how we hear? The latter option could be okay, so long as we don't fool ourselves into believing we are actually doing (1).
Indeed.
I read somewhere online that same phenomenon.
The mind 'gets use to' and favors a certain sound over time.
Then there was a mention of a person having had his system serviced, and the mere unplugging and re-plugging of the NEW fancy cables resulted in eliminating an annoying hum that he had before, actually due to some corrosion build-up.
That was the only problem in the first place, yet he was unaware of this small detail, and was convinced the fancy cables were the greatest addition.
Of course people can fool themselves into believing they hear something that isn't real, at least sometimes. We know from studies of other cognitive biases that such errors of perception tend to be systematic rather than random. That such things happen at all complicates our efforts to objectively measure SQ. However, folks who believe an AP analyzer makes perfectly clear everything that can be audible to any and every human on Earth are also is stuck in an imaginary belief system. AP has stated that they measure 'figures of merit.' They don't claim to measure SQ.
Seems to me this is more or less what Dr. Geddes alluded to: We can easily measure things that have some correlation to human hearing, but measuring certain other things that may be audible is not necessarily so easy and or is typically done as standard procedure.
An interesting thread that delves into some of the issues can be found at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/how-we-perceive-non-linear-distortions.379592/
Another thread at ASR is also available: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ion-of-low-order-nonlinear-distortions.34863/
Its not to say that all issues of audibility are discussed in the threads, but its not a bad start.
Seems to me this is more or less what Dr. Geddes alluded to: We can easily measure things that have some correlation to human hearing, but measuring certain other things that may be audible is not necessarily so easy and or is typically done as standard procedure.
An interesting thread that delves into some of the issues can be found at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/how-we-perceive-non-linear-distortions.379592/
Another thread at ASR is also available: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ion-of-low-order-nonlinear-distortions.34863/
Its not to say that all issues of audibility are discussed in the threads, but its not a bad start.
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