The power of suggestion. It can and usually does trick our brains. Try putting it to the test by asking a trusted friend(s) if they can hear the difference. You’ll have to lie a little…ask them to pick a familiar track and tell them that you want to do a blind test and that you’re going to play that track using three different quality settings and its up to them to rate the sound qualities as good, better and best.
Have some fun with it…you’ll be in for a surprise.
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I once was playing with different HQ Player filters. Tried a new one and thought the results were excellent, improvement in multiple aspects.
Then I realized I actually didn’t apply the new filter…
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Hi Jeff; It sure makes one think doesn’t it? Nothing like a blind test to reveal how easy it is to fool our brains.
NIH IRBs general guidance:
Deception in psychological research is often stated as acceptable only when all of the following conditions are met: 1) no other nondeceptive method exists to study the phenomenon of interest; 2) the study makes significant contributions to scientific knowledge; 3) the deception is not expected to cause significant harm or severe emotional distress to research participants; and 4) the deception is explained to participants as soon as the study protocol permits
Finding out your new $20,000 DAC is no better than a $100 one might violate (3).
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