Re: Snake Oil

[EMAIL PROTECTED]  (---MIKE---) wrote:

>A few years ago I bought Kimber PBJ interconnects and Canare digital
>cables.  I can NOT hear any improvement.  I wasted money that could have
>been better spent on more CDs.
>
>                  -MIKE

My hat's tipped to you for not being afraid to say you heard no difference.
That's often a difficult thing for people to imagine..and to say so out loud. 

I'm quite amazed at Press Conferences where, after the 'tellin' (apologies to
Englebert) and the demonstration starts there is often a deafening silence;
whereupon the Host plays another selection with "better" material. Eventually
someone says he heard "X" and another says "Y" and another round ensues
eventually ending with a few people and the Host negotiating differences
("Maybe you didn't hear the absence of midrange fussiness but surely you
heard..."). After a few of these everybody leaves but FEW EVER ('ceptin'
present company; but even then I usually keep my mouth shut) say they "heard NO
difference."

They'll say nothing. But it's very rare to hear "no difference." This is
surprising given that people are internally wired to report differences when
given 2 identical sound clips; and I'm amazed at how reluctant people are to
say 'no difference' out loud in a audio-social environment.

It's one interesting social aspect of the listening environment. When you see
people "negotiating" differences it's often a sign that no significant audible
differences were present.