Quote:

My explanation of what my friend said was probably not accurate and his explanation may not have an ounce of truth or logic to it. I think what confuses / bothers me with any of the pushback or argument in this thread is that how can anyone say that someone is not hearing a difference, if they say they are, regardless of what's causing it. But I know what I'm hearing vs. what I was hearing, period.


Charles, I'll do my best to try to answer your question. If anyone disagrees, I have no problem with that. My only hope is that you'll, at least, understand the point I'm trying to make.

First, if anyone has said that you don't perceive a difference, they are mistaken. The question remains, is that perception accurate or not. The human senses are notoriously unreliable. Ask any police officer about the reliability of eye witness accounts.

The reason they aren't always reliable, is because the senses are easily influenced by our brain which is full of subconscious biases, expectations, hopes, fears, distractions, etc. The reason you hear so much about double blind testing is because DBT is an attempt to eliminate as many of those factors (all of them if possible) which can, and do, subconsciously influence our senses.

That being said, if you perceive a difference, and make a buying preference based on that perceived difference, nobody can or should argue with your choice. But, based on anecdotal sensory perception alone, stating categorically that there IS a difference is controversial. I hope that explains how saying "I hear a difference" doesn't actually prove there is one, and causes some to say "not so fast."

With apologies for my redundancy, if the phrase "trust your ears" means when you hear something you like, or prefer, then that is the choice for you, I most heartily agree. On the other hand if "trust your ears" meant to imply that ones senses are infallibly correct, I must disagree.