By popular demand, your winner and topic for this week’s discussion is….
Has Anyone Ever Studied The “placebo” Effect With Amps, Cables Etc?
Please share your experiences, knowledge, reviews, questions, or anything that you think might add to the conversation here.
Vote for the next topic in the poll for the next discussion.
Previous discussions can be found here.
There is a long list of studies, experiments, and blind tests here. One of the best lists I’ve found.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/
The key takeaway after a meta review of all them is …
“The clear conclusion is that ABX testing does not back up many audiophile claims … Any change in sound quality comes from the listeners mind and interaction between their senses. What is claimed to be audible is not reliably so.”
Let me devils advocate this a little, but if this were true wouldn’t it stand to reason that every time someone spent more money on something or just something new trying to perceive an upgrade if their brain was telling them it should sound better wouldn’t that upgrade always sound better to them?
If so then why do some people get new things and it sounds worse?
Again devils advocate, but curious as to how that’s explained because if someone’s upgrade something and the mind is so powerfully is controls how something sounds to you then that upgrade should always sounds better because the brain is telling you it should. Right?