my take on blind tests

"If I were to take a double blind test, the biggest problem would be that I am completely unfamiliar with the entire audio system being used in the test."

Do it at home with your own system. Have someone swap out cables, cords, etc. or use different cables in different inputs and have someone else switch back and forth via remote.

Plenty of ways to do it. Most of the reasons I've heard so far are just excuses rather than having to admit that there is really little difference.

Or if there is so much difference, then the presumption would be confirmed.

Snofun,

You said it very well. If you can't hear a difference in a blind test then the difference must be quite small. Given that most people can hear a change in tone control of around 1 db - it implies that these differences are very small indeed.

I would agree that as the differences get smaller it may take much longer to discern and much greater familiarity with the sound of the system (as per Sugarbrie). I think this is because eventually you find out what to look for....like a tiny knick in a wood floor - once you know where to look then you can find it even it it may take hours for someone else to find the damaged spot. Think Jig saw puzzle.

However, small is still small. If you want to spend $1000's of dollars on small and barely audible differences (like repairing a small scratch in your wooden floor) then go for it!

If you don't hear it, don't buy it.

The differences between cables are as significant to my ears as what I hear when evaluating electronics and speakers, but of course I don't close my ears (or my eyes) when making such evaluations. Perhaps I'll give this blind testing thing a shot when selecting my next automobile.

LM

Many times I have stuck something in my system with the preconceived notion that is would be better. It just had to be better. But it was not. I'd spend hours trying to convince myself that is was really better, but something else was off. In the end it was not better. If I am just imagining things, it would have always sounded better in those situations, since I was favorably biased going in.

In a classical music context, there are many who think the conductor does not matter. After all, the top orchestras have world class musicians in them who know what they are doing.

About six-seven years ago I heard a young (roughly 32 year old) unknown guest conduct in Baltimore. I was very impressed. Six months later I heard him conduct again. I heard the same excellence. Was I imagining things? Well, he was just hired (still under 40 years old) to be the new Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The only other time they hired someone young was Bernstein. People that young just don't get jobs like that with million dollar salaries. So I can't be the only person who heard what I heard.