@tuberist , exactly. To each their own. No harm no foul. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding.
Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)
About 25 years ago I was inside a large room with an A-frame ceiling and large skylights, during the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. This one time was like no other, for two reasons: 1) There were large, red, fragmenting streaks multiple times a minute with illuminated smoke trails, and 2) I could hear them.
Yes, each meteor produced a sizzling sound, like the sound of a frying pan.
Amazed, I Googled this phenomena and found that many people reported hearing this same sizzling sound associated with meteors streaking across the sky. In response, scientists and astrophysicists said it was all in our heads. That, it was totally impossible. Why? Because of the distance between the meteor and the observer. Physics does not allow sound to travel fast enough to hear the sound at the same time that the meteor streaks across the sky. Case closed.
ASR would have agreed with this sound reasoning based in elementary science.
Fast forward a few decades. The scientists were wrong. Turns out, the sound was caused by radiation emitted by the meteors, traveling at the speed of light, and interacting with metallic objects near the observer, even if the observer is indoors. Producing a sizzling sound. This was actually recorded audibly by researchers along with the recording of the radiation. You can look this up easily and listen to the recordings.
Takeaway - trust your senses! Science doesn’t always measure the right things, in the right ways, to fully explain what we are sensing. Therefore your sensory input comes first. You can try to figure out the science later.
I’m not trying to start an argument or make people upset. Just sharing an experience that reinforces my personal way of thinking. Others of course are free to trust the science over their senses. I know this bothers some but I really couldn’t be bothered by that. The folks at ASR are smart people too.
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@decooney ✅️ |
I will even go so far as to say that I do agree with a lot of what @amir_asr says. Our subjective sensory experience IS flawed. We’d be lying to ourselves if we thought that wasn’t the case. I’ve been caught with that, with initial impressions of a new piece sounding way better, only very quickly realizing later that it wasn’t actually THAT much better. I also agree that blind testing is valuable, whenever possible. Even blind testing is somewhat limited. Just because one might not be able to discern differences in a blind test does not mean that those indiscernible differences may not add up to greater or lesser enjoyment over the long term, even if we are not directly aware of those differences. BUT. I do believe your sensory experience, while flawed, is the best form of measurement we have and the one that ultimately matters. The problems Amir mentions which I agree with, can be worked through, with extended listening and, as much as possible, keeping an open mind. As an aside. Since @amir_asr has supported the practice and value of blind testing, why does he not do that with the gear he measures? If it was done in a fair, controlled manner, it would be really great to see how all of those gears he trashes would fare in such a test. It would be great to see how frequently his measurement results would be corroborated by such tests. If I were Amir and I truly believed in my heart the value of measurements, I’d want to prove it with such tests, which Amir himself has said are useful. It would be great to see a blind test of burnt in vs brand new gear. That would be the ULTIMATE forum/YouTube channel. One that specializes exclusively in controlled, double blind testing. |
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