Audio Science Review = "The better the measurement, the better the sound" philosophy

@jtgofish 

ASR love to quote Floyd Toole and research done at Harman.Which is fine but the findings there have also shown that the average listener does not prefer a flat frequency response .Far from it.And different types of listeners prefer different frequency response curves and these are only averages anyway so do not properly reveal the extent of this variation.

Above tells me you either have not read Dr. Toole's research or understood it.

He absolutely does NOT advocate flat-in-room response. The response should be sloping down.  Otherwise the sound will seem bright.  

What he advocates correctly and what is followed by many top designers in the world is flat-on-axis response, and off-axis that is smooth and similar to it, but pointing down.

On-axis response is NOT an average by the way. It is a single anechoic measurement.  Of axis is made up of key strong reflections in a room. Research shows that they are most critical when it comes to off-axis performance.

Your statement about different people wanting different sound is incorrect. This has been researched across hundreds of listeners of all types.  Most of us like very similar sound and in controlled testing, pick the same speaker as the best.  See: 

And no, we don't accept everything Dr. Toole and his research team say. I for example don't publish preference scores for either speakers or headphones.

These are the topics we discuss day in and day out in ASR. So if this is of interest for you, ASR is the right place. If you want to stick to folklore of "we are hear differently," then not so much.

@kota1 

@amir_asr , I have asked in this thread and through DM's, is this a two way street or are you going to tear down the wall at ASR? No one is stopping you from posting here, why are you avoiding this (and many other) questions? Are you a drive by poster or what?

There is no wall at ASR. Hundreds of members join the forum from all walks of life.  Only a handful get banned because all they want to do is argue and not provide any data to the conversation.  All claims are empty such as yours: "you should not test a cable before 100 hours of burn-in."  When asked based on what, you have no answer.  You can't explain the engineering.  You can't back it with any controlled test.  Yet want to repeat that 22 times in one hour demanding that folks believe you.  Well, we don't.  We have better things to do than cater to likes of yours.

If on the other hand you are interested in proper discussion of audio science and engineering, then you have a great home in ASR.

And to be clear, I am NOT here as a appeal court for your banishment from ASR. I am here to answer questions and clear up misconceptions posted about us.  So please don't keep asking me to remove your ban.  You had the opportunity to be a constructive member but you threw it away.  And that is that.

@amir_asr, uhhh this IS a place for proper discussion of audio science and engineering, isn’t that why you are here???

This is also a place for manners, happiness. civility, mutual respect. I went through the thread where they seem to be egging you on to participate in this thread at ASR. Is that the reason you are here?

I am all about the journey, I asked you what you about your system, what you would like to accomplish, etc. How is that not in alignment with the goals of both forums? 

@ticat 

I repeat....

Always follow the Money... 

You say that but you don't follow that advice, do you?

Some of you know that I am the founder of a company (Madrona Digital) that does custom integration of electronics into very high end homes.

One day a local distributor called us for a meeting. He said that we should source flat screen TVs from them. I asked them how their prices were compared to big box stores. He said, "if they have a sale, then our cost to you will be higher!'  I asked him how we were going to do that?  He said, "you can match their prices and then make money on selling them cables and extended warranty!!!"  With cables having as much as 70% gross margin, you can see why he said that.

Do you listen to this?  No.  You happily go and pay thousands of dollars for non-performant gear that only enriches the manufacturer at your expense. You believe what they say on their website.  You believe random youtuber getting eval gear and gushing over said cable.  And oh, the more expensive that cable, the better it must be.  Never mind that the more expensive, the more it enriches the manufacture.

So no, you don't believe in that. You are using it as a cheap talking point without foundation to boot.

To repeat, all the information on ASR forum is available to everyone for free.  No content is behind paywall or delayed for paying members to read first.  Large number of ASR members read the forum without any contribution. And are not looked down upon whatsoever.

I am fortunate enough to be independent and don't rely on ASR to make money.  If it were different, I would turn on ads and allow sponsorships as all other sites do.

Am I here to solve world hunger?  No. I have my interested in what I like to do and test. It just happens that this interest aligns with the needs of many audiophiles.  They appreciate the uncluttered site that is not running banners everywhere you look.  Or my youtube channel where there is zero begging for subscription, likes, etc. And has no monetization even though I am fully qualified by Google to do so.

If this is not for you, then that is that. But stick to facts and don't make proclamations that are simply not true. 

I will answer: you need to understand electronic design.

I don't need to know how to build an amp to listen to how it sounds any more than I need to know how to build a violin to know how it sounds. You understand electronic design and measurements, most here understand the art of audio reproduction of sound, it's more complicated than just making a measurement.