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Is that ripping them off though? I'd say Audiophiles want to pay over the odds for things that might not even really make a difference if you actually measured it. It's part of the enjoyment for them.

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Yes, it is. If I sell you quack medicines for thousands of dollars, but you BELIEVE they work, am I ripping you off?

Just because someone believes a con job doesn't make it less of a con job.

We’re talking subjective experience of art, not medical efficacy. If someone thinks A sounds better than B, they are automatically correct for their ears.

That gets rather odd when at least one study [1] has indicated that a (as far as patient is concerned) more expensive placebo does have higher medical efficacy:

[1] https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2015/01/29/ex...

(links to paper)

The difference there is that you can't measure how pleasing a given sound is to someone else, at least not in a generalized fashion that makes that conclusion have any meaning for anyone else.

Motor function is objectively measurable. "I like the sound of this" is not.

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