How do you know when a stereo sounds good?

@roxy54 you are in good company. Strange world where measure AND listen are on the fringe middle while the two warring flocks go at each other with blind religious fervor….

The middle is never a fringe.  Vice versa.

It seems the core of arguments here and on all other audio groups revolve around what it is that constitutes good sound with people on one side who all but claim subjective observations of sound quality are meaningless. That people who believe stereos that sound good to them, do in fact sound good, are somehow delusional. Question, where are these staunch objectivists defending their position that what subjectively sounds good is not necessarily the most important criteria where sound quality is concerned?

Good question. Really good question. So far as I can see all the answers boil down to, "I know it when I hear it." A majority go even beyond that, "I know it when I feel it." They talk about being drawn in, losing track of time, etc. One even went so far as to say, "When I can listen to Adele." Talk about a high bar!

But, unless I missed it, not a single one said, "When it measures good."

Amazingly, no one said, "When the double-blind test confirms it sounds good."

Astoundingly, no one said, "Well on account of expectation bias I am never really sure of anything."

So kudos compliments and atto-boys on a clever discussion topic. Still, don’t judge, as Stilgar might say, hastily. The question is, "How do you know". So it could be you got the answers you did because this is those of us who know. Could it be people insist on measurements because they don’t know what sounds good?

Measurements are another tool that smart people know how to apply for example to help decide what products to choose to listen to so they can then make their subjective decisions about what sounds good more effectively.

What comes first the chicken or the egg?

How do you decide what products to listen to? A crystal ball? What looks good? What some guy on the internet or a reviewer says you should? Only the ones at the local dealer if there even is one near you? Only the ones in a friend’s house, if available?

Maybe. But if you are building a system with components, putting those into a room, and you want those components to perform well together and thereby have a better chance of sounding good or maybe even outstanding once you get that far best to learn to read and interpret measurements. Not that you might not stumble onto something good otherwise, but....facts matter. Especially technical ones. You can choose to ignore them but does not change the facts.

 

mapman

19,678 posts

11-28-2021 11:22am

I suppose this thread might be viewed as part of Synergistic’s research.

How do you decide what products to listen to? A crystal ball?

Asking audiophiles what constitutes good sound is somehow intrinsic to Synergistic Research? LOL

Typically we look at measurements to determine what to listen to first, compatibility with our systems. Personally I tend to like amplifiers that double power as impedance halves, with high dampening factors. That said, it tells me nothing about what will sound best in my stereo, for that I listen, subjectively. Pretty much like other audiophiles who also own good sounding stereos.

Yours in music,

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.