Nearly all manufacturers do not advertise/exhibit their product measurements? Why?

@mitch2 When I look(ed) for components, the specs (hopefully honestly) told me data I could use to assemble synergy. After having owned inefficient speakers and 20 years of electrostats, i decided I preferred conventional multi-driver dynamic speakers. Amps to match the speakers and pre-amps to match the amps (Such as my 1990s Audio Research SP-14 and Classic 60-a great match). Cartridge specs to match the arm.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of information for cables and tweaks (usually none). Trial and error are the remaining methods. I don’t use blind tests as I have both Golden Ear friends who are also remastering engineers (with their own and different audio systems) and friends and family who come over and listen for hours. The untrained listeners have enjoyed music at my home for decades, regardless that I heard the problems with the reproduction as much as the good sound. As I have become a better listener, I also can point out subtle differences and evaluate them over time. I only want to make changes to my system if the change is dramatically better. I’ve dismissed probably 75% of subtle change equipment (mostly tweaks and cables), maybe more. I auditioned 11 footers for my pre-amp and isolation transformer (Bryston BIT20) as the two dealers asked for my opinion and sent them to me free. Only one was extraordinarily bad and I tried it under every piece of equipment (except my turntable) but always resulting in a lugubrious paced sound, certainly a black background as advertised, but dark and muddy (Magico Q Pods).

And why do high end/expensive tweaks and cables have to be packaged like jewelry? Why are some footers packaged in elephant foot proof padded cases (Q Pods for instance)? Is it just a vanity item for some (YES)! My Synergistic Research power outlets, fuses and HFTs come very simply packaged in foam in paper boxes. That’s all they require.

ASR is a joke for people who want to think that their $500 (insert source piece of equipment here) is just as good, if not better than a $15000 (insert source piece of equipment).

ASR's "measurements" PROVE it's better!

They lost me for good after hooking up a $400 power cable to a $500 DAC and then stating that it measures, and therefore sounds, exactly the same as a $30 power cable hooked to the same DAC. Uh-huh. 

The entire process is flawed.

@coralkong  Really?  Or course!  That's why I tell non-audiophiles not to purchase expensive cables or tweaks because they won't hear a difference if the rest of their system is below mid-fi.   The reverse is true as well.  Imagine,  my neighbor's $1/2 million system and he was strangling the sound using Pangea power cables (he has high end speaker, ICs and digital cabling).  Once he replaced them with superior design and manufactured cables, he (and I) now enjoy great sound.  

Slightly different take: I chose not to upgrade my cartridge to a $4K Hana Umami Red despite it probably sounding great on my hot stampers but possibly not as great on the vast majority of my LPs  I'm using a Dynavector 20X2 L and a Zesto Allesso SUT $3.6K (paid 50%) which is great sounding for all my LPs.  I paid more for the SUT than the cartridge but I will never have to upgrade my SUT again.  

@westcoastaudiophile 

@amir_asr "They make very rudimentary measurements often using obsolete audio analyzers” 

Dear, your APx555 with -117dB NF is outdated to measure my -124dB NF DAC :-), not talking here about RFI/EMI noise polluted environment. 

nice try though! 

I already corrected you on this in the last thread.  Here is the results of a recent review again:

As you see the analyzer has no problem measuring dynamic range of 130 dB for this DAC.  Your 124 dB DAC is good but is 6 dB or one whole bit worse than this unit.  If you are charging more than a few hundred dollars for it, I suggest going back and redesigning it to lower its noise unless you are having noise pollution as you mention.

You also looked up the wrong spec for APx555 analyzer.  The -117 dB is THD+N.  This is a worst case spec (company is very conservative in this manner).  I am able to measure THD+N to -124 dB:

With FFT analysis like above, we can dig as low as we want as far as distortion spikes anyway.

@coralkong 

They lost me for good after hooking up a $400 power cable to a $500 DAC and then stating that it measures, and therefore sounds, exactly the same as a $30 power cable hooked to the same DAC. Uh-huh. 

huh indeed.  You are telling me with straight face that a much more expensive audio product was shipped with poor AC cable as to need another one for $500???  If you paid thousands of dollars for it, what on earth did that money go to if it is not independence from mains interference or whatever the new cable supposed to do?

If there ever is a backward logic, it is that.  That your expensive, boutique audio products are not engineered well enough that they need all sorts of tweaks. I would think it is an insult to their designers that you would want to mess with their products this way. 

The products I use to test with these cables are state of the art despite their reasonable costs.  And they show that if you buy a performant audio product, they are in need of no tweaks.  This is demonstrated both with measurements and music null tests.