Objectivity vs Subjectivity

[Yogesh]

I never understand this objectivity vs subjectivity thing. How does it matter how does the measurements matter when you are buying to listen yourselves, receiving via your ears, transmitting trough your nerves, experiencing through your brain. Why does it matter what other instruments perceive?

To my perspective it's like marrying a girl after going through her skin tone, height, weight, various shape measurements and not marrying a girl who makes your heart flutter when you look at her.

 

[Analogous]

Although this horse is seemingly dead, I wanted to share something from my recent experience before you shovel in the mud and close it off forever.

I did a home demo of 3 speakers in the recent past using 2 different amplifiers. What you read on the forums / or specs vs what you really hear are very different.Your room, your preferences, your music, the actual sound vs what you thought it would be. Please audition before you buy anything. One of the speakers is a multi award winning one. Extremely transparent and resolving. Sounds fantastic with audiophile recordings but sounds bright with half my actual music. Imagine if you buy that online!

I had this experience with a highly regarded amplifier.

I found myself listening to a very limited number of albums (essentially a playlist) as it revealed the shortcomings of poor recordings ruthlessly. Over a few weeks of this I started wondering about my choice of amplifier. This feeling got “amplified” into harsher emotions till I actually developed a dislike towards this inanimate object.

I sold it (much less than what I paid for it) with a sense of relief. I did however insist that the buyer (who wanted it couriered) come and listen to it first., but in a strange twist in the tale this amplifier made me curious about the “tubey” sound and thus discover the sound quality and characteristics that brings me most joy.

 

[davidwise77]

If one were to just follow ASR's recommendations, one can just buy audio gear online without listening to it. Just like T-Shirts. And then just believe they sound good because ASR said so.

Oh, oh Man! What if ASR is incorrect?
BTW, it's not just like shirts.

Oh, oh Man! What if ASR is incorrect?
BTW, it's not just like shirts.

What do you think about wilbur soot?

 

[manek]

Due to audioscsiencereview’s bad reviews on Hegel, naim, regas and so on the resale value on these stuff has taken a huge hit. And day by day more and more people are switching camps/getting educated about what to look for in audio. So, consider getting something which is decent in measurements and sounds good to your ears at the same time to avoid disappointment in few years. Colored sound would give an immediate satisfaction but once you start noticing that amps filter in everything you hear you would want something different. A transparent amp on the other hand would be boring at first, but once you start noticing the differences in different recording styles of different artists without filtering by the amp, you would be forgetting more About the gear. Over the years, I have used lot of hifi targeted amps like atoll, gold note, holfi, creek and several niche brands. Every time when you hear it for the first weeks you will be flattered, then the excitement dies as that particular coloring is intrusive to the music all the time. It used to be easy to flip them when you don’t like it but now if you put any of them on sale,anyone who looks for a used amp who knows how to “google search” would land in the audiosciencereview’s page would be reluctant to buy them regardless of their positive reviews. Nobody wants a product which is bashed by 100s of random guys on internet.

They say end of the day, trust your ears but I would say, trust your ears only after you do your homework. Otherwise the moment you discover some of the flaws, then there is no way back.

Ah ASR : do notice that they only have a finite set of measurements and since their claim is good measurements from that set = well designed equipment it seems to make sense to some.

To be honest they have also driven some manufacturers to make equipment that basically measures decently if not well within the basic measurement parameters. If someone is paying money the manufacturer will do well to make equipment that measures well as per todays standards and not what the standard used to be a decade or two ago. Its synonymous to buying a car new or used and checking out the engine specs.
People will check specs come what may and buy what they want to. So if the manufacturer wants to stay in the market with good brand recall, good measurements is one more angle that they have to keep up with in the new world. So if you plan to flip after short use better buy stuff that measures well or buy stuff where the manufacturers claim = tested results.
To each his own decision.

To be honest audiophile recordings sound great with half decent speakers in a decent room.
But who listens to them anyway !
Play me some Led Zep or early Rolling Stones or Burman Sr’s Guide and make THEM sound great , then we are talking ….

I listen to audiophile recordings .
Once in six months