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What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
51–60 of 94 posts
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#52This reminds me very much of some studies where audiophiles did double blind tests of various solid state amps against tube amps. Some audiophiles say that the tube amps sound "warmer", maybe they like 60hz hum. Whatever. Tube amps look cool and that is what is really important to them I think much in the same way that it is a huge status symbol to have an old violin. Same thing I think. Not that there is anything wrong with that, you get your inspiration in whatever way works I think.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#53From the study's abstract: Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Another case of science reporting failing miserably at understanding and conveying the results of studies. The three articles all come up short at even reading the abstract: Daily Mail "Concer…
I didn't read the original study, but based on your quotes it seems like you could append (p>0.95) to any of those headlines and have a meaningful statement which is supported by the data.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Appeal to authority" is a shorthand form. The thing people object to is more formally known as "appeal to false authority" (think "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV").
Improper appeals to authority are not limited to appeals to false authority; appeal to authority to dismiss evidence are also fallacious.
This is not so; we rely on authorities because we can't judge everything ourselves. If you show me some new evidence on the role of free protons in the aging process or whatever, it's not a mistake for me to say "I'll ignore that until such time as addresses it". I might be wrong as to reality, but I can't avoid using that exact strategy in almost all of my life.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#55Perhaps not with violins, but blind wine tasting is very hard to tell differences... http://www.liquidasset.com/WEILVDQS.PDF
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a difference, but it's a difference with obvious large implications for using the things in performance as well as experiments. As such, it's hard to see how it's a problem in the experimental design; if you're not allowed to adjust the Stradivarius while it's in your possession, maybe a newer model really is the right choice for a concert?
That is fair; but, my assumption in this situation is that if the musician owned the instrument themselves, they would have been allowed to tune it. Not being allowed to change details may have been a way for the benefactors of the instruments to keep them from being harmed
With Stradivarius violins costing millions and millions of dollars, I always assumed that the people playing on them didn't, in the typical case, actually own them (much like how science is now mostly practiced by professionals funded by grants, instead of by the bored idle rich). But I'm not informed on that point; it could be very different.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can find similar issues with loudspeaks (those overly enhancing basses sounds better, but perform worse) and TV displays (overly saturated colors).
Indeed, one of the challenges of comparing audio systems is that -- rule of thumb -- louder sounds better. To have any hope of exposing effects other than overall loudness, systems under test have to be matched for gain.
If it is to compare my thumb say that
—at the same loud the better sounds lower.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#58From the study's abstract: Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Another case of science reporting failing miserably at understanding and conveying the results of studies. The three articles all come up short at even reading the abstract: Daily Mail "Concer…
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Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#59From the study's abstract: Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Another case of science reporting failing miserably at understanding and conveying the results of studies. The three articles all come up short at even reading the abstract: Daily Mail "Concer…
Daily Mail, Phys.org, and NPR all mess up, DM get singled out.
Re: What Really Happened in that Double-Blind Violin Sound Test
#60Because the violinists were only allowed to try the violins for one minute, this study has the same flaw that the Pepsi Challenge had in 1975: "In his book, Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell presents evidence that suggests Pepsi's success over Coca-Cola in the "Pepsi Challenge" is a result of the flawed nature of the "sip test" method. His research shows that tasters will generally prefer the sweeter of two beverages ba…
Anecdata:
My friends and I will often dial in a guitar or bass tone that is very pleasing when we play individually, but sounds like junk when you have guitar + guitar + bass + drums. After noticing this we also noticed that a lot of the bands we thought sounded the best used tones that were individually good but not fantastic because the were shaped to best fit the sonic space they existed within than to sound amazing in their own right.