Measurements are the first thing.
But listening for yourself is the final thing.
I don't want to beat a dead horse but I'm bugged.
I just can't clear my head of this. I don't want to start a measurements vs listening war and I'd appreciate it if you guys don't, but I bought a Rogue Sphinx V3 as some of you may remember and have been enjoying it quite a bit. So, I head over to AVS and read Amir's review and he just rips it apart. But that's OK, measurements are measurements, that is not what bugs me. I learned in the early 70s that distortion numbers, etc, may not be that important to me. Then I read that he didn't even bother listening to the darn thing. That is what really bugs me. If something measures so poorly, wouldn't you want to correlate the measurements with what you hear? Do people still buy gear on measurements alone? I learned that can be a big mistake. I just don't get it, never have. Can anybody provide some insight to why some people are stuck on audio measurements? Help me package that so I can at least understand what they are thinking without dismissing them completely as a bunch of mislead sheep.
ASR usually listens; it provided a reason for not listening in this case. ASR provides objective measurements of equipment It subscribes to the theory that good equipment should measure well. It does not claim that equipment that does not measure well will not sound good to you. There is a lot of equipment that measures well *and* sounds good. For example, ASR raved about the measurements of the Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier and both The Absolute Sound and Stereophile raved about how it sounded. |
Who's Amir? He's just a guy. Maybe knowledgeable, maybe he has an agenda. He may have a YouTube channel ... I have too. Why trust the opinion of just one guy? Look broader. What do other reviews say? I bet there are more? Are they positive? If a majority is so-so then I'd have my doubts ... if almost everyone likes the product it'll be fine. Thoughts on build quality, components used, functionality, specifications, measurements ... those can be objective but if it comes down to how a products sounds it's only my own ears I'd trust. |
@russ69 Yup. I find it incredible how many people here don't listen before laying down their bread. But these days many people order a car without driving it. However modern cars are mostly all the same. Unlike hi-fi components. |
+ @jjss49
Good posts. Here’s how I see it. If ASR did measurements and only reported the facts about what they measured, no one would care. Because measurements HAVE to be related to judgments about how things sound, aesthetically, or no one would read the site. Thus, ASR derives it’s credibility from doing (1) but it drives interest in the site by claiming that (1) correlates with (2) and (3). This results in two related ironies. First, ASR’s claim to correlate (1, measurement) with (2, 3 subjective sound) abandons the sites’ main claim to validity. Second, by reaching beyond measurement, ASR repudiates it’s own purpose as a website. Here’s a guess on my part. Most gear is made well enough that it should not matter how it measures. Something would have to distort really really badly to correlate with nearly everyone’s personal taste. Imagine a cup of coffee -- some like it with no sugar, and some like it with up to 4 Tb of sugar. Almost no likes it with more than 4 Tb of sugar. So, if I had a website measuring sugar in coffee, I’d only start to be useful to readers if I told them that this cup of coffee had more than 4 Tb of sugar. But coffee makers already figured *that* out. So, there’d be not much to measure. What's the solution? Have a variety of subjective reviewers who declare their taste up front. Then, readers can decide if their own tastes are similar enough to a certain reviewer in order to accept their judgments as a helpful guide (not as rule of law). This is how I choose TV or movie reviewers. I find those whose observations and judgments are motivated in ways similar to my own. Then, their additional experience and finer perceptual abilities are helpful in pushing me toward new experiences that I can estimate might be pleasing. |