The most intense placebo you ever experienced

I see. I wasn't completely serious. I was suggesting that you started to believe mp3 sucks because of these forums. But no offence, hence the .

 

Yes, sorry about that, I have realized it does. Just forget what I wrote.

 

I was convinced I could hear those differences too until I took a hearing test and it showed these old ears of mine can't register anything over 15.5KHz

 

I am happy to know that I'm not alone...

 

That's good placebo.

 

I have been tempted from time to time to disagree with those who believe that certain elements in the audio play back chain increase sound quality significantly.

I restain myself from doing so because i try to live by "if you dont have something good to say, dont say it". Why pee on someone's wheaties?

That being said, as a longtime audioholic, musician and home recordist, i have been bitten by placebo at times. Its a real thing.

 

I swear my gear sounds better when it's dark, -40 degrees and snowy outside....

 

Anything sounds better than than being outside in the dark, -40 degrees and snowy outside....

 

I sometimes think my setup sounds better on rainy days. Maybe the faint sound of rain is masking some of the faults in my modest system.

 

i did the same; a fool and and his money are easily parted! I really dont have any faith in that company except their isolation platforms that i find very effective.

 

I generally tend to error on the side of not hearing changes or improvements rather than placebo. About a year ago I dropped $450 on a tonearm cable, an upgrade over basic Audio Quest RCA's and a random wire from an FM antenna for a ground. I put the new one on and heard no change. That very day, I took it back to the shop I bought it from. The salesman was shocked I couldn't hear a difference and tried to change my mine. He may have even taken a shot at my set up not being revealing enough for the cable.

I am not looking to spend money. If doing so will have a meaningful impact I'm all in but it needs to be clear forward progress.

 

Expectation Bias is very real and very powerful (not just in audio pursuits). I don't think anything can convince me that lossless music streamed to a quality DAC sound as good as my CD players.

"Perfect Sound Forever"

 

Sounds like you need to invest in a room humidifier...

 

Have you tested that with an A/B comparison in your own rig? I don't want to talk you out of loving your CD player but it takes one hell of a CD player to beat a new external DAC and Lossless files.

 

I did a blind test and could not consistently identify the sources. They both sounded "great". However, when I know the sources...I prefer the CD. Perhaps there is some Experiential Bias going on (been doing it that was for 30 years, just love the physical aspect, etc...). I am not ashamed of it...I find it kinda neat to discuss, actually.

 

I prefer to work with the silver disks myself but I did pull my CD player from the rack after getting a DAC about a year ago.

 

...at least you have great taste in speakers per your profile

 

I was patting myself on the back for my awesome high-res downloads and thinking everything sounded wonderful until I realized my mac was downsampling everything to 16/48. This went on for years.

 

I hooked up my subwoofer, gave a quick adjustment to its volume level and crossover frequency, and then proceeded to impress myself with the newfound deep bass on track after track. Wow, perfect. I must have nailed the volume and crossover frequency on the first try. But then I noticed I hadn't plugged in the power cord. In that instant, all of a sudden, that impressive deep bass just vanished right then and there.

 

I like to build my own amps, crossovers, etc. They always sound great when I hook them up. Right now I am working on a class A power amp... reading about no crossover distortion and seeing first hand what is involved in a Class A amp power supply I KNOW it is going to sound so smooth and clean and pure can't wait.

 

With variance in mood, concentration, barometric pressure and my ears, and time; it becomes virtually impossible to say with any certainty that I've ever experienced it on a specific occasion.

I've not had that experience where I thought something was on and I was hearing it and it was not powered up. That seems the way most confirm.

 

Demo'ing speaker cables or interconnects and convincing myself that the "more expensive" cables are clearly better... then realizing they aren't the ones connected.

 

It's called dithering.

 

Careful now...