I don't want to beat a dead horse but I'm bugged.


I just can't clear my head of this. I don't want to start a measurements vs listening war and I'd appreciate it if you guys don't, but I bought a Rogue Sphinx V3 as some of you may remember and have been enjoying it quite a bit. So, I head over to AVS and read Amir's review and he just rips it apart. But that's OK, measurements are measurements, that is not what bugs me. I learned in the early 70s that distortion numbers, etc, may not be that important to me. Then I read that he didn't even bother listening to the darn thing. That is what really bugs me. If something measures so poorly, wouldn't you want to correlate the measurements with what you hear? Do people still buy gear on measurements alone? I learned that can be a big mistake. I just don't get it, never have. Can anybody provide some insight to why some people are stuck on audio measurements? Help me package that so I can at least understand what they are thinking without dismissing them completely as a bunch of mislead sheep. 

128x128russ69

Just for entertainment purposes, here are two opinions of measurements with different conclusions.  

John Atkinson: Rogue Audio's Sphinx offers excellent measured performance with little sign of the usual compromises made in class-D designs. 

As a line-level integrated amplifier and headphone amplifier, the Sphinx V3 continues the high standard set by the original. 

And From Amir at ASR: Perfect marketing, poor engineering. Story of high-end audio.

Needless to say, I can NOT recommend the Rogue Audio Sphinx V3.

The best is when A.S.R. jukes the stats on a product. A.S.R. gets called out on juking the stats. A.S.R.then ignores getting called out for juking said stats. For example, instead of measuring an item with a 2 volt input signal, fairly common, they throw a 14 volt signal at it. Good stuff! The devil is in the details. Also the Chinese brands “always” seem to be the best of the best on that site.

Measurements are the first thing.

But listening for yourself is the final thing.

 

ASR usually listens; it provided a reason for not listening in this case.  ASR provides objective measurements of equipment  It subscribes to the theory that good equipment should measure well.  It does not claim that equipment that does not measure well will not sound good to you.  There is a lot of equipment that measures well *and* sounds good.  For example, ASR raved about the measurements of the Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier and both The Absolute Sound and Stereophile raved about how it sounded.