@erik_squires +1. It’s called Occam’s Razor. Been around for a while. Was the basis of the scientific reasoning that created the tools that take the measurements. Now that we have the tools, we forget about the principals. It would be funny in any other age.
I think the complexity of active listening is such that the technology used to measure just can’t catch up. How many million tests would be needed to capture this? Add to that, the relationships between tests (i.e. poor results at a rate against good results from a different test at a rate) and I think if any two devises test exactly the same, they weren’t tested enough. Combine this with the fact that, as others have said, the tests are being performed on the wrong side of the eardrum, I consider measurements to be nothing more than a baseline start to inform an evaluation. Will the technology catch up in a few hundred years - maybe — but It is the curse of every age to consider themselves sufficiently advanced and ‘done’. 50 years from now someone will be laughing on this forum about the crudeness of our testing processes.
i have tested high voltage current at hospital facilities. 13.3k volts. Everything tested fine. Dozens of tests using specialized equipment costing more than the most expensive audio equipment. Then, through an analog waveform capture on the feeders, and the B phase is flat coming in from the utility. My point being that every test is a snapshot of a piece of a photo. The relationships between the tests are what get you, and an analog experience (like listening) is the easiest way to get that.