Better Sounding Systems, Objectivists or Subjectivists?


When these two camps retire to their listening rooms, which school of thought tends to get better sound? Those who ultimately place their faith in measurements above actually listening to their systems? Or those of us who look at measurements, but ultimately make our decisions based on what subjectively sounds best to us?

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I have an Objectivists system with a Topping pre90, Topping D90SE DAC, and Benchmark AHB2. An ASR SINAD wet dream system. Though I got the system together from reading the much more reliable reviews from Sandu on Soundnews.net. The Benchmark LA4 preamp was once used in this system but now needed elsewhere.

I also have a Subjectivists (to me) system with the new KRELL / CODA amps and a CODA 07x preamp. I think it measures pretty good but it is more tube like than neutral.

Both systems are great and offer a nice change of pace.

The “objectivists” use is a misnomer here. It suggests these “folks” have “all the facts”. They don’t. There are countless “measurements” missing that we don’t even know about. The joke forums like ASR are full of morons. I have challenged the few I have interacted with on if they have ever listened to high-end audio. Have never gotten an answer. Objectivist in the audio world is currently just another word for moron. 
Not that I have any strong opinion here. 
 

 

That’s true, actually. The term is really shorthand for "those who claim to be objectivists." I think a better word for them is "measurementalist."