What Hifi BS

[Robin L]

Oh, I see, listening at night is better because my mains supply is polluted. Makes sense. Better go out and spend $10,000 on power conditioning immediately.

And I just thought it was because the city is quieter at night...

If you've got older gear, mains noise is an issue.

On the other hand, psychic pollution is at it's lowest ebb in the wee small hours of the morning.

 

[Doodski]

What do you have against the USA?

lol... nothing @ all It's just that Canadian weed is legal in ALL of Canada by law. The yankees have yet to federally legalize it.

 

[HammerSandwich]

She was prolly upside down hanging from her dance pole for too long and became dellusional.

Look, there's no reason to get all sexist and... <Instagram loads> My apologies - carry on!

 

[amirm]

The first comment says it all:

I don't remember anyone articulating so well everything that is wrong with their position in audio in such a concrete and explicit way.

 

[Wombat]

 

[Robin L]

lol... nothing @ all It's just that Canadian weed is legal in ALL of Canada by law. The yankees have yet to federally legalize it.

I hate you:

 

[amirm]

The author quotes Poppy Crum, not knowing that is the witness for the defense, not prosecutor:

That is precisely why you don't want to draw conclusions from sighted listening tests as the magazine seems to be doing and to create that list. I suggest the author watch the many videos where Poppy demonstrates how our mind perceives the wrong reality. Here is one example:

Poppy is active in AES (co-chair of the high-resolution audio last I remember) and has presented a few papers. Here is one of them:
Use of the Magnitude Estimation Technique in Reference-Free
Assessments of Spatial Audio Technology
Alex Brandmeyer, Daniel P. Darcy, Lie Lu1, Richard Graff, Nathan Swedlow and Poppy Crum
1 Dolby Laboratories, 1275 Market St., San Francisco CA 94103

And key statement from the study:

So if she puts any value on knowledge of Poppy Crum, she best start to using proper listening tests to avoid confusing herself.

 

[Crazy_Nate]

omg what a bunch of crap. Seriously.

Listening in the dark is fine. I often listen with my eyes closed...helps with soundstage too. It's easier to create the illusion when you can't see the speakers...but the rest of it? Nope.

Yeah, I think if closing your eyes or turning the lights off helps you focus on the music, I do think it'll improve your listening experience. It definitely helps me better perceive imaging.

But since the article is talking about sound quality, it's unlikely to change the sound. One might think of the case where a light has a hum or high pitch whine and slightly affects your sound floor. But that's really far reaching.

I did get a pretty good chuckle about the rest of the article and bust out laughing about the nonsense about playing CDs from the start.

 

[DonH56]

Oh crap, I was listening to Pandora and paused, now I have to start the Internet over from the beginning.

 

[majingotan]

Maybe I need to make a phone call to my local radio station to start over my song from the beginning since I hit pause

 

[GGroch]

The author quotes Poppy Crum, not knowing that is the witness for the defense, not prosecutor......

This!

Crum explains both the defense and prosecution positions. On the one hand, when a test is not blind then literally EVERY change impacts our perceptions of sound. That is demonstrably true. I believe I remember referenced elsewhere here an audiophile who proved that turning to a particular page in a book improved sound quality.

On the other hand, ...none of these (including listening in the dark) actually change the sound itself. It's a shame the author did not conclude with Crum at the end to explain all of this.

Still, while not explicitly providing the true explanation...as Amir points out....she left us Crums.

 

[daftcombo]

It would be funny to do a blind test:
apply all of those "tricks" simultaneously VS none and see the ABX results.

 

[audiophile]

bust out laughing about the nonsense about playing CDs from the start.

I've been reading audiophile press for the past 20+ years and this is the first time I heard about such "phenomenon".

 

[audiophile]

Listening in the dark is fine. I often listen with my eyes closed...helps with soundstage too. It's easier to create the illusion when you can't see the speakers.

There is an audiophile mask which you can get for just $44.95 to make this effect even better

 

[Koeitje]

The listening at night argument is such bullshit, its not about mains noise its about environmental noise levels. Its easily a couple of dB quieter in my room at night...

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

The listening at night argument is such bullshit, its not about mains noise its about environmental noise levels. Its easily a couple of dB quieter in my room at night...

absolutely. And it's probably also about the general state of relaxation (perhaps even sleepiness) of the listener.

 

[majingotan]

On a quiet listening room, the difference between a 30 dB noise and 33 dB is quite staggering. At 30 dB I hear every nook and cranny presented in the recording and not some BS cleaner mains power at night

 

[Juhazi]

I have never paid attention to their "tests" and articles. But their self-esteem is high, obviously they aren't worried of my antipathy...

https://www.whathifi.com/news/about-us
What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.
Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms.

 

[solderdude]

The listening at night argument is such bullshit, its not about mains noise its about environmental noise levels. Its easily a couple of dB quieter in my room at night...

Consider the Musculus Tensor Tympani which relaxes and increases sensitivity of the hearing. Consider that in the night (darkness) our ancestors had to rely on the hearing to listen out for predators and such.
We simply have more sensitive hearing in the evening. The quieter room and people being more relaxed also helps of course.

Otherwise I completely agree with Becky ...
....
...
being a ...
...
well it has been said a couple of times already.

 

[Eirikur]

I seem to remember a study undertaken within the past ten years which found that twenty five percent of the individuals polled believed it is the sun which revolves around the earth.

Surely you know that 84.7% of all quoted statistics are made up?