I suspect many of us do indeed ‘put up’ with our untreated living rooms, the point is these rooms have partly reflective surfaces which create natural resonant frequencies and as a result, there will be places in the room where frequencies will be partly cancelled out reducing their intensity at that point and some areas where they will be reinforced resulting in peaks.
The point is, as you move about, you will hear a slightly and sometimes not so slightly different presentation.
Maybe it’s not always true. I had some minor issues with the bass, not clean or well controlled on some tracks. But fortunately only on very few tracks.
Recently, with the addition of ER/ linear ps, it solved completely these minor issues.
Then the speakers cables I bought recently finalised all this. The sound is so clear and natural now, all the instruments are well separated, and the bass is very good also.
But you will be expecting or determine results from that cable or you would not have bought it… this is where early reflections can play with your mind … and because almost certainly variabilities in your position or listening environment will minutely change how your brain processes the sound… and you might equate that to an improvement… and it’s real to you…
However to your point an equally affecting improvement could be had for a similar electrical propertied cable at a fraction of the price, or perhaps no new cable, but simply moving the sofa a bit.
It’s worth remembering masking effects coupled with filter combing can really add to the challenge. Different cables can have different capacitive or resonance properties and lead to a slight attenuation or emphasis of certain ranges of frequencies… and these coupled room effects and masking can lead more sensitised perceptions of change.
I might just be lucky that the irregular shape and folds in my ear corresponds with its relative position to the source to brain comb filtering alignments. I should add that being bald could be upgrading my perceptions, whilst adding my ability to absorb more vitamin D.
I think it’s more what goes on downstream of your cochlea that counts I suspect…
By the way the size of people’s auditory canal can effect perceived frequency sensitivities so I understand … although normalised by your brain… (a bit like visual jitter) … it can play with preferences on auditory presentation … and is really quite pronounced with headphones. Sex and age also affect frequency presentation preference… articles about this in the AES library
But a bald head is more reflective than a full head of hair. What impact might this have on SQ?
Discuss.
Which means that when the missus finally does decide that the couch has to move to the other side, you’re forced off to the store to get a different set of cables… 
Who cares about the SQ? It’s party time!
You know Nigel… I think you are onto something there…
Yep… or simply shave your hair off… or if follicley challenged, then try a wig.
Thank goodness you are nothing like your avatar in real life Simon, as you would be forever moving the furniture around and trying new cables!
My wife ‘puts up’ with the hifi as it is - moving things about is not an option - but neither is $3000 cables, so I’ve worked within the room we have and the budget I have that’s realistic. The biggest improvement was staying away from back-ported speakers as they have to be close to the wall. A remodel a couple of years ago where we put rockwall insulation in a number of walls and the ceiling, and installed a solid oak floor over a new sub floor probably made the biggest difference.
Indeed… room treatments was just one of the many considerations… over obsession on distortions, jitter, phase, noise, sample size, digital dither etc are all mentioned… and some of these fall into gadget territory that are very much marketed to the audiophile… not forgetting metalinguistic audio terms like musicality, PRaT, euphoric, forward etc.
One way to check for expectation bias is to take the item out of the system after a week or three.
That sometimes reveals that it was the change of sound, the novelty of change, that was attractive rather than being better SQ.
And sometimes it confirms the original impression as it sounds worse.
Great thread!
I have what I personally believe to be the opposite of (positively experienced) expectation bias. At this point in my ‘audiophile’ journey, I ‘expect’ either little difference or not enough difference to warrant much accolades and praise as I often see from others with new gear. I often read inadvertently shaking my head or with mouth agape at some of the adjectives used from critics and members from forum-to-forum. I used to be relatively jealous because I never experienced such awakenings; now I realize that in most/many cases it is attributed to said bias. New stuff is fun, and the extorbitant monies paid in a lot of cases justifies the exponential betterment of sound. If such incremental improvements existed, nobody would be selling off their purchases nearly as quickly as I see (from myself included). IME, it’s folly, but entertaining folly, and in that rare instance actually does make a difference…just not in the way I read about—ever.
Oh, and if you’ve ever been on the same audio forums as Ethan, you’ll understand what Simon is talking about with regard to the man’s demeanor. There’s little possibility of mistaking his sanctimony even in writing.
I am feeling let down by my earlier post about drawing a horse getting forgotten.
Most of these replies are from folk forgetting about their horse drawing abilities.
I truly think that if you can draw a decent horse image, then you are qualified to discuss audio.
No horse. No truths.
But only if you are not aware the item has been removed and you notice a difference.
Yes, great idea.
I’ll ask Mrs. JimDog to issue me with a blindfold when I get back from the office (my bedroom!) each evening - and she can then play some tunes and feed me truffles whilst I try to guess what - if any - changes she has made to the hifi that day and whether the system sounds better or worse.
Could be called Blind Audiophile’s Buff.
