Sighted Testing IS King!! Silly me - all those years wasted...

[Rycher]

Sorry, let me point out to you that the salsa was IDENTICAL.

Not in my reference. If my daughter was to eat the salsa that I consider mild, it would burn her mouth to high heaven, same as if I was to eat the chipotle chiles - I would destroy my abdomen, but my buddy thinks it's as mild as butter. My point is that we all taste different salsa's differently, just as we all hear things differently and see things differently. That's why we also have certain preferences to manufactures of equipment. If they all sounded the same (something that just as in cables all manufactures "could" build the "same" reference amp, etc.), then there would'nt be so many brands. Some engineer could make one reference design for, let's say an amplifier, and one maker would build it. All other designs would be snake-oil as they would deviate from the reference. I think manufacturers diliberatly make their equipment, and cables, to sound different (whether it be pleasing to one and terrible to another, it would still be "their signature sound"). Am I too far off here?

[magictooth]

Not in my reference. If my daughter was to eat the salsa that I consider mild, it would burn her mouth to high heaven, same as if I was to eat the chipotle chiles - I would destroy my abdomen, but my buddy thinks it's as mild as butter. My point is that we all taste different salsa's differently, just as we all hear things differently and see things differently. That's why we also have certain preferences to manufactures of equipment. If they all sounded the same (something that just as in cables all manufactures "could" build the "same" reference amp, etc.), then there would'nt be so many brands. Some engineer could make one reference design for, let's say an amplifier, and one maker would build it. All other designs would be snake-oil as they would deviate from the reference. I think manufacturers diliberatly make their equipment, and cables, to sound different (whether it be pleasing to one and terrible to another, it would still be "their signature sound"). Am I too far off here?

Yeah, sorry you're pretty far off. If you could reread the entire post, you'll find that I used one batch of salsa and divided it into 2 containers. I merely told them that one was hotter when in fact the salsa was IDENTICAL in each container. When asked, 100% of respondents said that the salsa that I had indicated was hotter, was in fact hotter. The salsa shouldn't have tasted hotter because it was THE SAME salsa. I was introducing bias by telling them that one salsa was hotter when in fact they should taste the same.

[Rycher]

Yeah, sorry you're pretty far off. If you could reread the entire post, you'll find that I used one batch of salsa and divided it into 2 containers. I merely told them that one was hotter when in fact the salsa was IDENTICAL in each container. When asked, 100% of respondents said that the salsa that I had indicated was hotter, was in fact hotter. The salsa shouldn't have tasted hotter because it was THE SAME salsa. I was introducing bias by telling them that one salsa was hotter when in fact they should taste the same.

I was talking about my reference to the salsa eaters in my family. Different salsa's, very different opions.