Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?


It’s easy to make snide remarks like “yes- I do the opposite of what he says.”  And in some respects I agree, but if you do that, this is just going to be taken down. So I’m asking a serious question. Has ASR actually changed your opinion on anything?  For me, I would say 2 things. I am a conservatory-trained musician and I do trust my ears. But ASR has reminded me to double check my opinions on a piece of gear to make sure I’m not imagining improvements. Not to get into double blind testing, but just to keep in mind that the brain can be fooled and make doubly sure that I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing. The second is power conditioning. I went from an expensive box back to my wiremold and I really don’t think I can hear a difference. I think that now that I understand the engineering behind AC use in an audio component, I am not convinced that power conditioning affects the component output. I think. 
So please resist the urge to pile on. I think this could be a worthwhile discussion if that’s possible anymore. I hope it is. 

chayro

"Quote: If you have not already, please go to my youtube page and subscribe. It won’t make me any money but will work to improve our influence in youtube world:"

Oh, that is what you meant.  Clever of you to put that in the footnote.  That comment came about because of people saying if someone has more subscribers, he must be more right.  So I thought I put in a request or two in the text on ASR for the last couple of videos.

But as I stated, no video has any such requests unlike what you claimed and implied in your post.  So you can't possibly compare me to other youtubers who stop the flow of the video, only to beg for subscribers, likes, notifications, etc.

"But Amir and (some of) his dedicated followers conveniently ignore all these objective facts and cast doubt on others so they can prop Amir up as the only person capable of providing honest and accurate reviews."

No one ignores such a thing.  Indeed, the opposite is true in the number of people on ASR who defend Erin, including the very thread you were talking about (his top 5 video).  Neither me, or them think Erin's videos are dishonest in any way.  

The difference simply comes from a concept that you don't want to accept: ASR is not meant to be used to help someone else monetize their content.  No forum allows this.  You will get banned immediately on any other forum if you post a video and immediately asked for donations.  

Yet, I allow Erin's videos to be posted. Other fora would just ban any such links and go about their business.

Bottom line, I love what Erin is doing as far as generating great objective data for speakers.  I didn't love it when he attempted to use ASR to grow his activities and pay off the cost of his gear.  I can't let him do this without the floodgates opening to everyone else wanting to do it.

I think the concept of a pure, non-commercial site like ASR is so foreign to people that they just assume there must be more going on.  Well, there isn't.  We have created a unique social experiment where members and some companies send gear to me, and I test and report on it.  I am fortunate enough to have had a long (and hard) career in tech as not need to make a living from it.  This gives me incredible freedom to do things that others can't.  I for example vote that 2/3 of the gear I test.  Only 1/3 gets my recommendation. 

No one can survive such stats, including Erin by the way.  But I am not here to make friends. I am here to provide transparency with respect to performance of audio gear.  You know, the thing you said you wanted but are working hard to cast aside.

Good news is that countless fellow audiophiles of yours are seeing the value and helping us grow by reading the content, spreading the good word and sending in more gear to be tested.  That upsets a few of you here.  Why?  Because your casual evaluation of audio is being proven wrong in objective testing.  So what to do?  You can start learning what audio is really about.  Or complain I guess....

 

@amir_asr Why then did you allow Erin’s video only to close the thread? People aren’t allowed to dissent? I was considering sending you some gear to review that would have filled a nice gap in your informational catalog. Not anymore after I’ve seen how you conduct yourself here.

Clearly you are not here to make friends. 😂

"@amir_asr You do ask for donations! Your blindspots are immense."

So is yours in not seeing the difference between me and others.  The donations are completely optional.  No one gets exclusive access for donating as every other youtuber is doing by putting content behind patreon, etc.  I detest that and am never going to force people to pay to get information.

The ask for the donation is also a one-linear at end of text reviews.  Nothing of the sort exists in any of the videos.

Donations help me feel better when I am sitting there packing boxes, taping and labeling and schlepping them to FedEx.  They also pay to buy gear that I have no personal interest in testing.

Unlike others, that is where it ends.  No one is subjected to ton of ads as they read ASR or watch my videos.  No monetized links as to cloud the real intent behind giving positive reviews.  No company sponsorships as to make me beholding to them.

And it is not like if I didn't ask for the donations you all become fans.  That is just another made up thing to complain about.