Someone thought that my "golden ear" example was too obvious, that comparing "snake oil" was not the same as comparing amplification devices. I agree that CD preparation is snake oil, but the $4.000 transport vs. the Philips wasn't. In any event, the specifics of the test are not the point. That so-called experts make outlandish claims of audibility their own tests disprove, is. If you weren't happy with the first example, here are two more.

Golden Ear Foolishness Example Numero Dos

In 1988, Stereophile performed its first single blind test at its then annual show, this one comparing the Adcom GFA555 and VTL amplifier, the latter being tube monoblocks about eight times more costly than the mass-produced, solid-state Adcom. (Speakers used in the test, as they were the following year, were B&W 801s.) I was not involved in this test, but Stereophile published a lengthy, detailed article. Testing was performed in the same manner as previously described here. Once again, participants fared no better than guessing - with one possible exception, and I say "possible" because the numbers are not definitive. On a Telarc CD of the Faure Requiem, a recording with rich, natural bass in a church, participants were correct about 64% of the time. I suggest that if sharper-eared participants heard anything, it was the superior damping factor of the solid-state Adcom, i.e., it better controlled the 801's woofers. Nonetheless, the "golden ears" at Stereophile continued to tout the glory of the VTL and tube amps in general.

Golden Ear Foolishness Example Numero Tres

This one is from those record-philes at The Absolute Sound. They were present when the venerable Mercury Living Presence recordings were transferred to CD. While admitting they could not hear the difference between the finished CD and the analog master tapes, TAS nonetheless concluded the recordings sounded better on record. They never explained how records were able to improve on the master tape.

These are magazines ostensibly on the cutting edge of audio, staffed by so-called (often self-proclaimed) experts. For certain, they have a major effect on the audio retail market in spite of the fact their opinions are scientific claptrap. Worse, they have influenced decades of audiophiles to fear admitting the emperor is naked. Folks, too often he's butt neked!