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A Golliath in David clothing.

I agree that many of us want to see David woop Golliath. But what happens when Golliath dresses up in David's clothing? Do we give too much preference to a cheap tweak so long as the price is right? A $100 bag of rocks which makes a $1000 improvement in your system? Are the rocks David or Golliath?

And what influence does that have on our perception?

I have never claimed that people who succumb to the placebo effect (whether you believe such a thing exists in audio or not) are ever dishonest. It's not an honesty question, it's a human limitation question. Are people's auditory perceptions influenced by pre-conceived (even unconscous pre-conceieved) notions or are they not? I believe that they are.

If, and I know it's a big IF, one agrees with the above, then DBT provides a very convenient method for eliminating this influence on perception. What better way to eliminate the effect of pre-conceived notion than by removing the knowledge of what is what in the test?

To me it's not a question of whether or not sighted tests are valid (to some extent they are because it really doesn't matter what causes the audible improvement, placebo or no) it's whether or not they are MORE valid than a blind test.

I propose that a blind test is more valid.

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