Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)
About 25 years ago I was inside a large room with an A-frame ceiling and large skylights, during the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. This one time was like no other, for two reasons: 1) There were large, red, fragmenting streaks multiple times a minute with illuminated smoke trails, and 2) I could hear them.
Yes, each meteor produced a sizzling sound, like the sound of a frying pan.
Amazed, I Googled this phenomena and found that many people reported hearing this same sizzling sound associated with meteors streaking across the sky. In response, scientists and astrophysicists said it was all in our heads. That, it was totally impossible. Why? Because of the distance between the meteor and the observer. Physics does not allow sound to travel fast enough to hear the sound at the same time that the meteor streaks across the sky. Case closed.
ASR would have agreed with this sound reasoning based in elementary science.
Fast forward a few decades. The scientists were wrong. Turns out, the sound was caused by radiation emitted by the meteors, traveling at the speed of light, and interacting with metallic objects near the observer, even if the observer is indoors. Producing a sizzling sound. This was actually recorded audibly by researchers along with the recording of the radiation. You can look this up easily and listen to the recordings.
Takeaway - trust your senses! Science doesn’t always measure the right things, in the right ways, to fully explain what we are sensing. Therefore your sensory input comes first. You can try to figure out the science later.
I’m not trying to start an argument or make people upset. Just sharing an experience that reinforces my personal way of thinking. Others of course are free to trust the science over their senses. I know this bothers some but I really couldn’t be bothered by that. The folks at ASR are smart people too.
That’s quite true.
Ahhhhh, but you make an exception for your favored shiny tool, for which I’m sure you’re willing to submit lengthy rationalization. Hey @prof, it’s clear you’re a smart guy. Do you not see your ill logic in this matter, or are you just funnin’ with us? |
cleeds,
I presume you are "funnin' with me. You couldn't possibly have so misunderstood the point of what I wrote so badly. Think about it. Anyone with enough money could purchase any speaker you want to name. Does that make someone technically knowledgeable? Vs. Someone who owns - and most important! - UNDERSTANDS how to use a Klippel Anlayzer. And kota1 literally demonstrated the difference between owning hi-fi gear and having a technical understanding (of how ASR measures speakers and why). |
“He starts with a long description about a meteor event 25 years ago showing science can be wrong. So? Have doctors been wrong in the past too? Does that mean never to trust science or doctors again?” @tcotruvo , that wasn’t the point of my anecdote, to say science was wrong. In fact, science was not wrong in this case - nothing about science was incorrect! Rather, the opinions of researchers were wrong, in terms of explaining a specific phenomenon that people were reporting. If people reported a bunch of UFO sightings and researchers didn’t believe them, that would not be an example of science being wrong. My point is that I have also encountered subjective experiences in HiFi that personally, for me alone, make me believe that things I perceive may not be in the realm of what is typically or currently measured when assessing HiFi gear. Just as with the case where I heard the meteors. It does not invalidate or make the measurements of HiFi equipment incorrect. This is a highly personal perspective that need not be adopted by anyone really, for all I care. I’m not trying to change yours or anyone’s mind. I’m not even trying to claim that I’m right. Rather, I’m just sharing my perspective! Amir, yourself and others are of course free to share yours. |
'Anyone with enough money could purchase any speaker you want to name. Does that make someone technically knowledgeable? ' Vs. 'Someone who owns - and most important! - UNDERSTANDS how to use a Klippel Anlayzer.'
I have met many people who are 'technically knowledgeable' but have no clue how to set up a 'good' hi fi system and vice versa.We may argue what makes a 'good' system, but if you claim that you cant hear difference between usb cables (you have mentioned such case before,it was Nordost in question) than the whole point of discussing is pointless and that is fine with me. But, I really, really cant understand what drives you, (or anybody else that shares your beleifs) in a attempt where you are trying to 'explain' to people, who have different perspective or experience, that they are 'wrong'? I found that funny, but also very pretentious, none the less.Does any consumer needs 'Klippel Anlayzer' or blind test, or what ever else to determine what he actually hears? Building a great hi fi system can be delicate endeavour, but imho you cant do it without lots of experience that you get by listening to very different types and pieces of gear, listening to very different systems and without some sense of hearing...and attending live acoustic concerts for esablishing some sort of reference... In the same time, Ralph Karsten, aka the Atmasphere states that everything we hear can be messured. I trust him, but he is constructor and for him those informationa are tools. I believe that other constructors are doing the same and yet, all their gear sounds differently...and than we have you, the ASR crowd, for whom, most of the gear sounds the same...which is great, but for you...do what you like, be happy and leave others to do the same... |
