...and still no one has thus far reported ever having measured the electrical specs of a new component's outputs and then taken the same measurements 500 hours later. So, while many poke fun at what others claim to hear, they haven't themselves tested the effect in question to scientifically put the notion to rest.
Even limited to the context of this threac, a single set of measurements would be both technically meaningless and probably ignored.
It is impossible to *prove* a negative assertion with a single example. Thus, even if there was a measurement proving that a single specific unit measured *exactly* the same in all parameters, it doesn't help us generalize to the larger question. That's the technical aspect. The non-technical aspect is that the 'believer' crowd would basically say 'so what, they probably didn't measure it correctly', which would make it a wasted effort.
Conversely though, ONE SINGLE example of a unit which measures sufficiently differently to be audible pre/post break-in is enough to establish that the effect is real in certain circumstances. Yet no such instances seem to exist.
Why?
Why indeed.
The tone of your question suggests that the 'objective' manufacturers are hiding something. If you're looking for conspiracies, consider this. High-end manufactures and marketers make FAR more money selling to 'believers' based on non-verifiable claims and contentions than the engineers make selling based on objective facts. If there's a vested interest at play, I just don't see it being on the 'objective' side of this debate.
On one level, this is fine to a degree - nobody has a 'duty' to buy 'objectively perfect' gear, and the point of a leisure-time pursuit is basically to make us happy. So, buying gear that makes you happy is perfectly reasonable. The problems that I see are
a) it frequently doesn't work. folks end up on the treadmill of endless changes chasing something they'll never find, and there's no objective method to the pursuit. Of course, maybe this is just another way to 'stay involved' with the hobby, and may be the real point.
b) evangalism. Any time someone sallies forth with the 'one truth', things get ugly.
c) pseudo-science. Rarely is it the case that people are content to say 'I like it' and leave it at that. There almost always seems to be a need to explain or justify not why they prefer it, but why it's *better*. These explanations are usually not correct. Heck, they're usually not even wrong
d) ego. This is probably the one that actually bothers me most, where folks use the 'my hearing is clearly so much better than yours' card to jack themselves up and/or dismiss/insult others. (although this one is much less prevalent here on AC than most forums, thankfully).
Ultimately, I think that the mystery and allure of the unknown parameters of our perceptions is a large part of the draw of the hobby. It gives folks a chance to explore uncharted ground and come up with their own perspective on one aspect of the world. Taken this way, there may not be any interest in determining whether there is any reality to it or not. The 'objective' world is just way less interesting, and where's the fun in that? Looked at this way, it's hard to get too upset, as long as the evangalism stays in check.
I'll concur with the observation that this has stayed pretty civil. Certainly far more civil than any other similar debate I've seen.
