Parasound Halo P7 AV Multi Channel Preamp

RichB

RichB

Audioholic Field Marshall
The editor and staff of The Audio Critic would disagree with you and all who agree with you. :D

I think they might know a thing or 2 about double-blinded studies.
The editor and chief of Audioholics might disagree with you and that now defunct publication.

I am not talking about the "heft" and that "last bit of air". I am talking about, obvious differences and personal experience.
IMO personal experiences are not equivalent to undisputed fact. Especially, when there are credible sources disputing them :p :D

- Rich
 
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Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
I have conducted a few in my own house with friends and family.

However, I am certain my in-home studies pale in comparison to the studies conducted by The Audio Critic and other professionals who concluded that DAC, amps, preamps, and wires don't have a sound signature of their own. :D

Perhaps you guys were able to do a better job than they did with their studies. :D
Then the answer is really no, but those experiments should have been enough to demonstrate to you the way human hearing and cognition works, making comparative listening tests ineffective for revealing subtle differences between any two sources. Our audio memory stinks. We naturally latch onto various clues to detect similarities and differences that aren't going to be revealed by two different audio systems. I've found many people, untrained, have trouble hearing the difference between two high quality speaker systems, no less pre-amps. Years ago, in a dealer-driven test, he whimsically tried to show us how difficult blind tests were by having a friend of his, who was a stand-up comic and impersonator, impersonate him during one phase of the test while we were blinded. None of us guessed the impersonation was occurring. Once the impersonator was revealed it was clear he was very good, but we could tell the difference between the two voices. We can be trained to detect differences, but untrained most of us have so much imprecision as to render the tests invalid, in my personal opinion, just based on my limited experience.
 
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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Then the answer is really no, but those experiments should have been enough to demonstrate to you that the way human hearing and cognition works, making comparative listening tests ineffective for revealing subtle differences between any two sources. Our audio memory stinks. We naturally latch onto various clues to detect similarities and differences that aren't going to be revealed by two different audio systems. I've found many people, untrained, have trouble hearing the difference between two high quality speaker systems, no less pre-amps. Years ago, in a dealer-driven test, he whimsically tried to show us how difficult blind tests were by having a friend of his, who was a stand-up comic and impersonator, impersonate him during one phase of the test while we were blinded. None of us guessed the impersonation was occurring. Once the impersonator was revealed it was clear he was very good, but we could tell the difference between the two voices. We can be trained to detect differences, but untrained most of us have so much imprecision as to render the tests invalid, in my personal opinion, just based on my limited experience.
I agree. All I can say is what I perceive or think I perceive. :D

I should not debate what others perceive. :D

This is getting similar to the other thread regarding the veracity of the human senses. :D
 
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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
...that now defunct publication...
Does that mean The Audio Critic publications are less valid ?

All those double-blinded studies lose their veracity because The Audio Critic no longer has new publications? :D
 
RichB

RichB

Audioholic Field Marshall
Does that mean The Audio Critic publications are less valid ?

All those double-blinded studies lose their veracity because The Audio Critic no longer has new publications? :D
'

They don't get any better do they. ;)

The Power Curve was interesting, but as Gene pointed out, it does not include distortion measurements.
A bad power curve is bad, a good power curve might be good.


- Rich
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
'

They don't get any better do they. ;)

The Power Curve was interesting, but as Gene pointed out, it does not include distortion measurements.
A bad power curve is bad, a good power curve might be good.


- Rich
I'm not talking about measurement and whether 1% THD is audible or 0.5% is audible.

I am talking about all those DBTs that show most people (although not 100% of people) could not tell a difference.

But no studies are perfect and 100% true. Not by Audioholics, not by anyone.

The fact is, some of us claim to hear no significant difference, while some of us claim to hear a significant day-and-night difference.

It's the same way with speaker drivers and everything else. Some can tell a significant difference between beryllium vs diamond vs titanium vs aluminum, while others cannot tell a significant day-and-night difference.

If the player sounds better, then use it. If the AVR sounds better, then use it.

Whatever sounds better. But I think we can agree that it is different for everyone.
 
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