Re: Do all amplifiers sound the same?

"c. leeds" <cleeds@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:flo9vt01le5@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Harry Lavo wrote (about Sullivan's preference to buy
> audio equipment without listening to it first):

>> Except that Steven is very quick to accuse anybody who
>> claims to hear what they think is better sounding
>> electronic gear of fooling themselves.

There's no self-contradiction in what Steven is saying. Since almost all 
reasonable electronic equipment sounds the same, peope are fooling 
themselves if the do some kind of hokey amateur listening test and hear 
differences that aren't inherent in the equipment.

>> It is a very
>> hypocritical position to take, it seems to me, for
>> someone who doesn't even bother to listen, yet claims to
>> know that others can't hear what he doesn't even bother
>> to listen to or for.

There is a problem here - because Steven is not avoiding the bogus
listening 
test because he's lazy, he's avoiding it to avoid misleading himself.

> Quite true, but here's what's sillier: that in a
> "high-end" newsgroup, anyone would be criticized for
> simply preferring to listen to equipment before purchase.

It's not silly to advise people to avoid loading themselves up with false 
evidence.

> Sullivan insists such listening is "error-prone."

IME, he's right.