Some audio myths operate at a higher level than individual components — they shape the fundamental assumptions people bring to system building, equipment evaluation, and listening. These are perhaps the most important to examine because they determine not just which products someone buys, but how they think about the entire pursuit.
Myth: Expensive always means better. Price in audio correlates loosely with performance up to a point, and very loosely — or not at all — beyond it. At the budget end of the market, price genuinely reflects engineering compromises. In the mid-range, price tracks measurable performance with some reliability. At the high end, price is increasingly influenced by materials, aesthetics, production volumes, brand positioning, and market segment rather than sonic performance. Some of the most accurate and revealing audio equipment ever made has been produced at modest cost by engineers prioritising performance over prestige.
Myth: If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist. Measurements are essential tools, but current measurement techniques do not capture every aspect of what listeners experience. Our understanding of psychoacoustics — how the human auditory system processes sound — is still incomplete. Some perceived differences between systems are real but not yet fully explained or measured. Dismissing listener experience entirely on the basis of measurements reflects a misunderstanding of what measurements currently represent. The correct position is that measurements should inform listening, not replace it.
Myth: Listening tests are always subjective and therefore unreliable. Informal, sighted listening evaluations are indeed susceptible to expectation bias, placebo effects, and memory limitations. But properly controlled blind listening tests — with matched levels, double-blind protocols, and statistical analysis — produce meaningful and reproducible results. The problem is not listening tests in principle; it is poorly designed ones. The solution is better methodology, not abandonment of the evidence.
Question assumptions. Follow evidence. Listen carefully and critically.