"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
news:NP33b.276712$uu5.62322@sccrnsc04...
"ludovic mirabel" wrote in message
news:V_W2b.271692$Ho3.36096@sccrnsc03

Put it this way: Proposition: When music is used as a
signal to compare music reproduction properties of components by ABX
method you get false negative results.

Rejoinder: That's because music masks differences, silly.

At this point we observe that the inclusion of "ABX" in the first
paragraph
is irrelevant. Music masks differences no matter how you listen. This is
because masking is a function of the human ear and all listening tests
involve the use of the human ear. Those kinds of tests that are most
profounding affected by masking are also those that are most highly
dependent on just hearing.

Rejoinder II: Thank you for giving a name for what I
observed long ago: music and ABX do not mix.

As has been shown, the inclusion of ABX in the first paragraph is
gratuitous
and irrelevant. Music masks differences, whenever the evaluation is done
by
just listening.


I have a vague recollection (perhaps others can help in confirming or
denying) that masking is also at its greatest in the short term, and that it
sometimes becomes possible to hear through the mask with longer term
exposure.