3D lifelike sound and impeccable measurements - mutually exclusive???


The more I investigate gear the more it seems that it’s easy to get organic involving sound with flesh and body and a 3D immersive soundstage with the right matching of components but it also seems like it necessitates choosing some components that don’t measure well/add colorations/even order harmonics etc My question is are there components (specifically amps/preamps and integrateds) are out there that combine great measurements and in your mind also have that organic immersive sound that really helps many of us get more emotionally involved in the music or are these qualities mutually exclusive? 
128x128clarinetmonster2
Revel Salon 2 is the best measuring speaker I have seen. I happen to think it sound pretty good too.  
So its no surprise that people still think that excellent specs and really 3d musical sound are mutually exclusive because the examples that disprove this are a minority in the high end audio world. We certainly have the ability to measure what's important- although the will to do so is an entirely different matter!


It is a common problem. People want to be comfortable in their bubble, not told they are not wearing any clothes.


"
  • 98% I would expect have only a limited and likely inaccurate knowledge of how our hearing and brain processes information (before the screaming starts, we don't know all the details, but we know quite well the response mechanisms to external stimuli)"

Absolutely wrong.  Are you referring to the response of the tympanum?  Basilar membrane?  Hair cells?  Auditory nerve?  Inferior colliculus?  Medial geniculate nucleus?  Primary auditory cortex?  Secondary auditory cortical areas?  Association cortices?  Striatum/limbic system?