Placebo-philes

[webby]

An interesting, albeit not entirely unique, point of view.

http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2...placibo-philes

[sumday]

oh dear mate, as someone who buys almost all of his gear from carboot, junkshops etc and NEVER pays more than 50 quid an item, can I say you'll not get too much positive feedback here!!!

I have to say I tend to agree with much of the original article though...

[Reffc]

A rather muddled and mixed piece imho and not that focussed on any specific issue except that last bit which states that "you don't need ultra high end gear to enjoy your music". No one is going to argue with that. Other than that I can't really see what point he's making other than he used to have an expensive headphone set up and I think he's suggesting those spending more than he can justify are wasting their money or are under a delusion that it will make them happier. Of course money doesn't buy happiness (it may help!) but I find that most enthusiasts spend within budgets to achieve the best possible sound quality because that does most certainly matter if emotional and sensory response is the be maximised (in most cases. I'm sure there's those who are perfectly happy with a midi system and if so, more power to them).

Just another article in a long line of similar articles telling us that what we know matters to us doesn't matter and it's all in our heads? I find that rather an insult to music and to those whose hobby (perhaps more than the music itself) is hifi, although he does have a point on the extreme end of things.

Apart from anything else, he's talking absolute rot. Moving to high quality audio gear is NOT placebo effect if it produces the goods and one does not necessarily have to attach a high price tag...just good design.

[wee tee cee]

Some people are happy to travel from a-b in a banger.Some people take pleasure from driving or riding the same road in something that gives them pleasure enabling them to more from the route. Be it aesthetics or performance of the machine. Horses for courses....whatever floats yer boat!!
Their will always be those who quote speed limits and question why you would need a vehicle that can exceed it. I love music but take pleasure from it being reproduced as well as I can afford.

[Gazjam]

wot he said.

More money CAN SOMETIMES get you closer to the music, but you DON'T have to spend a fortune to get good music, and to me that's what AOS (and my own Journey) is all about.

(Though having spent a bit of money on my system recently I appreciate the benefits.....)
All subjective, not any happier than i was with my system 5 years ago, just that my goalposts have shifted.

[Macca]

I stopped reading at 'headphones'

No, not really but lets face it headphones are always a compromise too far no matter what you spend. Be interesting to see if he changed his view when presented with a proper set up with good loudspeakers.

[awkwardbydesign]

Very simplistic, some of it. And plain misdirect in parts;
"Perhaps not surprisingly, a trip to the chiropractor or the acupuncturist is much more likely to reduce your stress than a trip to the doctor. If anything, a trip to the doctor makes you more anxious."
I had back problems, doctors gave me pills, a physiotherapist at an NHS hospital caused more damage. An osteopath moved the joint and cured the problem!
It's always nice to find justification for your experiences.

[nat8808]

Some people are happy to travel from a-b in a banger.Some people take pleasure from driving or riding the same road in something that gives them pleasure enabling them to more from the route. Be it aesthetics or performance of the machine. Horses for courses....whatever floats yer boat!!
Their will always be those who quote speed limits and question why you would need a vehicle that can exceed it. I love music but take pleasure from it being reproduced as well as I can afford.

That's the wrong analogy.

A banger can still have a sweet engine or be comfortable or pleasure can be derived from it keeping going - "rat look" cars have a deliberate following, a kind of car-punk - a banger can have more of a feeling of being connected to the road compared the isolated and swaddled feeling of a modern heavy, sound insulated car (which I mostly detest - like "life" has been extracted from driving and just reduced to something of a chore or an old person's comfy armchair).

[nat8808]

I had moments almost as absurd with my headphones, when I heard things inside songs I swore I'd never heard before, when I felt as if parts of the music were two dimensional backdrops and then three dimensional shapes would leap out of the picture towards me, or the music would drizzle over my head, or crackle like lightning, or I'd swear I could smell the studio where the song had been recorded, or something.

In other words, I was an idiot. Because on other nights, usually after I'd owned that same set of gear for a little while, I wouldn't hear those things any more, and I'd start thinking that I needed better gear. I needed a new placebo affect.

Placebo effects can work both ways...

He had a good set up is sounds like and then he convinced himself he was being fooled..

Sometimes you have to be relaxed enough for your brain to be fooled (in a good way) by the sound to make 3D-ness pop out, if your mind is one something else, it's not always going to happen. But either way you need a good set up to get the effect.

I've had a similar unnatural effect too with Celestion SL600s which confused my brain on first ever listen and pushed the sound right in front of my eyes, then I got used to it and they went back to normal - if the brain isn't used to a sound field it will have a period of time trying to work it out, no different to visual confusion like shadow on say photos of craters on the moon, are they craters or mountains?

I came away from the article thinking "what a plonker".

[anthonyTD]

I can see [to some extent] where the Author is coming from, however, i feel he is describing two very different effects,and therefore, two different kinds of people, ie; the first' people who pay ridiculous amounts of money on equipment, and expect to hear a significant improvement, and therefore will themselves to hear it,[like the author] and then find over time, that in fact there was no real improvement at all. Secondly, those who genuinely strive to hear real improvements, and try very hard to not get sucked in by the ridiculous notion that by throwing more money at something, you will Automatically' and always get better results. In my experience,These people will first invest their time, then spend money, but only if they genuinely hear a significant, and lasting improvement.
These two kinds of people can be found in all matters of life, you just have to decide which side your on.
A...