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Talk but not walk?

Hi Guys

This isn't meant to start a fight, but it is important to on lookers. As a qualifier, I have my own audio forum where we report on audio issues as we empirically test them. It helps us short cut on theories and developing methods of listening. We have a wide range of systems and they are all over the world adding their experiences to the mix. Some are engineers, some are artist and others are audiophiles both new and old. One question I am almost always asked while I am visiting other forums, from some of my members and also members of the forum I am visiting is, why do so many HEA hobbyist talk theory without any, or very limited, empirical testing or experience?

I have been around empirical testing labs since I was a kid, and one thing that is certain is, you can always tell if someone is talking without walking. Right now on this forum there are easily 20 threads going on where folks are talking theory and there is absolutely no doubt to any of us who have actually done the testing needed, that the guy talking has never done the actual empirical testing themselves. I've seen this happen with HEA reviewers and designers and a ton of hobbyist. My question is this, why?

You would think that this hobby would be about listening and experience, so why are there so many myths created and why, in this hobby in particular, do people claim they know something without ever experimenting or being part of a team of empirical science folks. It's not that hard to setup a real empirical testing ground, so why don't we see this happen?

I'm not asking for peoples credentials, and I'm not asking to be trolled, I'm simply asking why talk and not walk? In many ways HEA is on pause while the rest of audio innovation is moving forward. I'm also not asking you guys to defend HEA, we've all heard it been there done it. What I'm asking is a very simple question in a hobby that is suppose to be based on "doing", why fake it?

thanks, be polite

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net


michaelgreenaudio
amg56's avatar
amg56
887 posts
 

All. I have no idea what happened to my first sentence. This (Microsoft surface keyboard) teleports the cursor all over the space. My apologies, but I didn't read what I had written in full until I hit POST.

I think I was responding to Geoff by saying (no spelling correction now), "there are as many tweaks not to have been PROVEN to have any effect as well".

It is only breakfast time here so the pills won't have started to work fully yet. ;0)

amg56's avatar
amg56
887 posts
 
@geoffkait Hey Geoff, will your quantum teleportation thingy fix my keyboard?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
amg56, you do realize you can edit your post? You have up to 30 minutes to edit. The next best thing is you can delete your errant post and start all over.
amg56's avatar
amg56
887 posts
 
@geoffkait Thanks for the info. I hadn't realised that. Actually the best thing to do is re-read your post BEORE pressing post. Regardless of mood...
glupson
7,842 posts
 
geoffkait,

Anyone can call her/his company whatever they want and it means only that it is that company’s name. However, this empirical testing in this thread was not a name for the company but something that opponents were accused of not doing and therefore their opinion being less worthy. Fakers, talkers, whatever they ended up being. Your explanation consists of correct words applied to an entirely unrelated thing.

As far as labs go, it is clear that they can have different locations, set-ups, and dress codes, and nobody should ever question that part. What I was curious about was that unfortunate syntagma. I hoped to get an explanation that will teach me about something I have never heard about. Well, I still have not learned, but blame it on me and not on the word you so masterfully reminded me about. Fluffiness. I should have thought of it first.

This is far from a mind game for me. Who would go to some "audiophile" forum to play mind games with people he has never met and probably never will? It seems like the battle, time, and, easily, mind lost in advance. I approach it as something to kill time and maybe learn a thing or two. So far, in this thread, I really got interested in two details that did not seem right so I wondered if I can learn something about them. Both were focused on something written somewhere, meaning they were sort of tangible and should be explainable. I really cannot care less about differences in sound that somebody believes and the other one does not believe in. I do not even care about the sound I listen to that much. I know, I am on the wrong forum. I am far from walker, barely a talker, but am a careful listener and, it seems so, reader.

It seems that neither am I good enough at explaining my question about empirical testing (lab is a cheerful bonus), nor are you good at understanding that same question. It is like deaf and mute having a discussion. So I will leave that topic. No need to perseverate on what has proven to be futile. Wait, aren’t we on Talk but not walk thread?
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