what value listening tests
Reply #10 – 2010-03-09 16:42:34
The OP may be a troll, or an audiophile, or an honest guy who has an argument with some face plausibility. Let me assume the latter for the moment. It's true that, for many people, listening to music carefully for the sake of seeking out differences is different than most experiences of listening to music. However, it is likely that, in careful listening when you are trying to hear differences, you will notice more nuance, not less. Comparable to how many details you notice in a picture when you're doing one of those "find all the differences between these two pictures" games. However, it is at least possible that careful concerted listening for the sake of comparison and differentiation puts the listener in a different enough psychological state from normal listening, that he/she will no longer be able to notice some things. For example, let's say the listener's emotion is sparked by "highs" in the music which are perceived at a subconscious level. Let's say, furthermore, that these "highs" are some of the data lost in the lossy encoding process. The subconscious perception --> emotional reaction link isn't engaged very well by blind testing with careful listening for differences. But to people who pose this sort of example, I say: set up a different sort of blind listening test. Where you're listening to music as you otherwise would. And see if you experience the "highs". Maybe your wife can set up the test for you. Play the lossless or lossy version of an album, without telling you which one. Now if the listener is held back from open emotive enjoyment by the awareness that "this music may or may not be the original"... well, sorry, you've lost to placebo already.