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Will you ignore my questions and statements, and respond by attacking my character?

That has been the reality of your past responses to my posts.

Your essay is just another silly example of throwing mud at "blind tests" hoping some will stick ... while sighted tests/reviews are obviously always above criticism.

You claim that listening to music is different than evaluating stereo equipment. That's obvious, but then your magazine is mainly about evaluating stereo equipment, not music.

If deciding whether amplifier X sounds the same as A or B is not the same as casual listening to music, then writing a multi-page subjective review of a component is even further from "listening to music".

Going to an audio store to compare or buy components, with the "persuasion" of an audio salesman and your money on the line, is even more pressure than a blind test.

So many audiophiles rely on printed component reviews to guide their purchase choices ... where a writer can say anything he wants to say about expensive wires, for one example, without ever proving his ability to hear differences among wires. That hearing ability is just assumed.

I guess it would be too difficult to perform a single-blind cable-swap comparison of wires, and then give readers the test data so they can be sure a wire reviewer can really differentiate among wires when he does not know their brand/model.

Better yet, the "audiophile myth" allows all audiophiles to merely assume they can hear differences among wires. Those pesky blind tests are too difficult to set up. Too much pressure. Flipping a coin and swapping wires for a single-blind comparison -- you might need a team of PhD.'s for that!

In what other field can people claim to have exceptional abilities or skills ... and NEVER have to prove their claim?

High-end audio must be one of very few fields where people can claim to have exceptional skills (hearing ability), refuse to prove it, and then dismiss EVERY test over three decades where other people tried but could not verify their own claims of having exceptional skills (hearing ability).

Now let the usual JA non-response and character assassination begin!



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