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


"Audiophiles are Snobs"  Youtube features an idiot!  He states, with no equivocation,  that $5,000 and $10,000 speakers sound equally good and a $500 and $5,000 integrated amp sound equally good.  He is either deaf or a liar or both! 

There is a site filled with posters like him called Audio Science Review.  If a reasonable person posts, they immediately tear him down, using selected words and/or sentences from the reasonable poster as100% proof that the audiophile is dumb and stupid with his money. They also occasionally state that the high end audio equipment/cable/tweak sellers are criminals who commit fraud on the public.  They often state that if something scientifically measures better, then it sounds better.   They give no credence to unmeasurable sound factors like PRAT and Ambiance.   Some of the posters music choices range from rap to hip hop and anything pop oriented created in the past from 1995.  

Have any of audiogon (or any other reasonable audio forum site) posters encountered this horrible group of miscreants?  

fleschler

@tsushima1 I get that he is attempting to defend his brand and of course, he has stated he is not running a charity either. He can bully members of ASR into buying name badges. He can bully manufacturers into hiring him as a "consultant" after attacking them on his site. But in the process of trying to defend his brand here he is using the same bullying tactics he uses at ASR. I think the end result is he is tarnishing his brand.

@amir_asr , no one here wants you to lose your income from selling name badges at ASR by jumping the shark. Why not use that passion for IT and objective data into something other than spamming us? Why not try engaging in some audio related threads other than this one. Participate, we won’t attack you if you are friendly, just try to remember, no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

@laoman , assume I know nothing about wine and explain to me, in as much detail as necessary, why my analogy shows I know nothing about wine.

 

@kota1 , are you working from the perspective that if you tell a lie enough times it will become true?  Amir has been considerably more professional than those attacking him here.

 

@fleschler, I learned something about CDs today when I tried to find your posts on ASR. Unlike a record where the grooves may not be concentric with the center hole, the CD manufacturing process ensures the tight alignment of the hole and the grooves. While learning, I also saw someone note that if we can read CDs at 30-40x reliably, that reading at 1x is trivial. I also learned that even early CD players had data buffers, which in retrospect is obvious, but I never gave it much thought. What am I getting at?  The informed reaction to a device that shaves the outside of a CD should be skepticism. It would be very easy to test whether it makes a difference. I expect Amir's equipment would do this easily. 

 

@whipsaw , I agree and do not agree with some of your statement. I do agree that many users on ASR appear to equate perfect measurements with idealized sound for an individual. I do agree that is a flawed position. I do not know how strongly Amir believes in that position and I will not put words in his mouth as others are doing. I do know from reading these pages that Amir's comments have centered on whether audio products do what they say they do, including whether they do or can sound different from another product. Amir is stating based on his measurements that many products must sound the same or that they do not do what they claim. I think that is the more contentious issue. The issue of accuracy and preference is peripheral to the discussion.

@kota1 Leave Amir alone LOL. He doesn't have to conform to you. His forum. His rules. Amir has many followers. Amir and his followers are not speaking kindly of us (specifically us two). 

There are so many kinder and more open-minded Hi-Fi reviewers who lean heavily measurements. I find that their reviews are better written than Amir's. More words. Complete sentences. Fewer syntax/grammar errors. If ASR was in for the money, they would write more qualitative reviews. It's just absurd to mention the money. I think that Amir is doing a labor of love and that he's genuinely trying to cut through the BS perpetuated by marketing. 

As a reader you can just take what you want from ASR. It's all free. You don't necessarily have to agree. That's my conclusion. 

@kokakolia  "

I am the same way. The sound which pleases me comes from a single fullrange driver mounted on a transmission line and powered by a tube amplifier. That's what I like. I listen to a lot of chill music and vocals are the most important quality for me..."   

We have a passion for the art of recorded music reproduction. We are feeling the emotional connection as we glance at a masters painting. Amir is analyzing the paint pigment and is missing the bigger picture. This hobby is big enough to let everybody join and share their experience. There is no need to exclude other opinions nor any reason to provide measurements to back that opinion up. I guess the thing that bugs me is some think I need to provide documentation of my opinions. I most certainly do not need to prove anything to others. The sound that comes out of my system is the only proof I need.