david.beholder wrote:I'm waiting for Louis Vuitton and Gucci branded DACs for a long time.
Leather surface, read wood, gold panel and brand - that's what attracts customer.
That's what would allow you to get your claim to fame to completely new level.
Here is a description of an actual test done at Harmon Kardon where sighted vs blind was the specific topic of the test comparison. The results are clear, when testees could see what they were evaluating, they demonstrated a clear preference for the larger more expensive systems. Note, that like our friend here, they were annoyed that anyone thought that they weren't immune, after all, they are audio professionals.
http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2009/04/d ... oduct.html
So, while I'm sure that you're just adding humor, yay! The kinds of biases that audio types are subject to is pretty much as silly as the kinds of biases that Gucci customers are subject to.
Anyone who claims that they aren't biased simply doesn't understand the issues. Even when you understand it, you are still biased. You MUST go out of your way to minimize bias if you are going to make an objective claim about human perception such as what we're discussing here.
Brand biases and employee loyalty to Harman products were also a factor in the sighted tests, since three of the four products (G,D, and S) were Harman branded. Loudspeaker T was a large, expensive ($3.6k) competitor's speaker that had received critical acclaim in the audiophile press for its sound quality. However, not even Harman brand loyalty could overpower listeners' prejudices associated with the relatively small size, low price, and plastic materials of loudspeaker S; in the sighted test, it was less preferred to Loudspeaker T, in contrast to the blind test where it was slightly preferred over loudspeaker T.
In summary, the sighted and blind loudspeaker listening tests in this study produced significantly different sound quality ratings. The psychological biases in the sighted tests were sufficiently strong that listeners were largely unresponsive to real changes in sound quality caused by acoustical interactions between the loudspeaker, its position in the room, and the program material.
