Folks,
In the November issue of Stereophile John Atkinson's editorial contains a current conversation with Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt that is, let's say, surprising. I applaud JA for printing Gordon's comments because they defy what I see as a big part of Stereophile's current philosophy to dismiss DBT. I had to read the last section three times to be sure I was really reading what I thought I was reading! Key for me was this quote from Mr. Holt:
Quote:
Audio as a hobby is dying, largely by its own hand. As far as the real world is concerned, high-end audio lost its credibility during the 1980s, when it flatly refused to submit to the kind of basic honesty controls (double-blind testing, for example) that had legitimized every other serious scientific endeavour since Pascal. [This refusal] is a source of endless derisive amusement among rational people and of perpetual embarrassment for me...
John, we may not see eye to eye on this (DBT) aspect of audio testing, but you have proven yourself an honorable man by printing this, and I applaud you for it.
To be clear, my intent here is not to add fuel to the objective / subjective war, or start a thread that will go down in flames and insults. I very much look forward to the promised follow-up article.
--Ethan
Folks,
In the November issue of Stereophile John Atkinson's editorial contains a current conversation with Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt that is, let's say, surprising. I applaud JA for printing Gordon's comments because they defy what I see as a big part of Stereophile's current philosophy to dismiss DBT. I had to read the last section three times to be sure I was really reading what I thought I was reading! Key for me was this quote from Mr. Holt:
John, we may not see eye to eye on this (DBT) aspect of audio testing, but you have proven yourself an honorable man by printing this, and I applaud you for it.
To be clear, my intent here is not to add fuel to the objective / subjective war, or start a thread that will go down in flames and insults. I very much look forward to the promised follow-up article.
--Ethan