Audio Science Review = "The better the measurement, the better the sound" philosophy

Everything in my system with the exception of my RME adi2 DAC would fail ASR's strict measurement criteria , yet together as a system they sound great .  Explain that please .   

The RME was the darling of ASR for a while and it's not a bad DAC at all.    Compare it to the LAB 12 DAC 1 Reference that replaced it and there's no contest .   The LAB 12 sounds much more lifelike despite it's specs on paper.   Which are 

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20 KHz + 0dB/-1dB.
• THD: lower than 0.15%

Those are the only published specs.   And they aren't that great but it sounds really good so who cares?

The RME impresses with it's "perfect" sound but when you compare it to the LAB 12 you soon realize something is missing , weight , tone , dimension, instrument's position or location in space.

Some may prefer that pristine almost clinical sound of something like the RME or the bigger , meatier sound of something like the LAB 12.  That's the great thing about all this stuff.   It's like ice cream , there is a flavor for everyone 

This quote is attributed to John Curl " Measurements are best used to

confirm what is heard by the ear".

Dr. I concur. 

You just cannot win an argument with ASR. They always have the final word. They always claim to be objective. They always take a position of authority citing scientific papers written decades ago. ASR read Floyd Toole papers like the Bible. ASR worships Amir like Jesus. The striking ressemblance to religious fanatics is uncanny. 

Perhaps the issue with ASR isn't the obsession over measurements, but rather the internet mob mentality. With internet mob mentality there's only ONE way to get things done and a thousand "inferior" ways to accomplish the same thing. You're treated like a fool if you stray away from the "optimal" path. Creativity, innovation and curiosity are thrown in the trash to make room for strict guidelines which can never be challenged under any circumstances. 

I noticed this mob mentality with the Magic the Gathering community (a trading card game where you build your own deck of cards and challenge other players, the possibilities are infinite). Professional players would publish decklists and strategies on their website (usually Channel Fireball or TCG Player). Competitive players would blindly copy these decklists without any thought, card-for-card. This is how the "metagame" was formed. The metagame is basically a ranking of decks, you would typically have 3 powerful decks and dozens of "inferior" off-meta decks. So every weekly tournament felt like a complex game of "rock-paper-scissors". 

This metagame mentality applies to everything in life: mattresses, cars, speakers, tooth brushes, toilets, music, books, chairs etc...

It's up to you to carve your own path, or follow strict rankings and guidelines. Don't let other people's strong opinions get to you. 

I have dealt with the Trolls when stating my viewpoints on dacs like DCS my brother owns ,or  when I bought the Denafrips Terminator2 much better  then what most of what they had the majority are newbies, or under 30 years old club 

beginners in my book . Myself having owned a audio store and having many 

toys to play with was a treat ,and over 40 years in Audio I can say I have experienced what many cannot especially sad having so many Great vacuum tubes to try in the 70s- 80s for reasonable monies now many are so rare they are 10x the price .i wished I stocked up ,there was so many tubes left over after ww2

and experiencing CDs from the start since the80s it has evolved where when setup it can = or surpass the turntable ,which I used as my main music sourse,

and cassette decks like theNakamichi Dragon was sate of the are 3 head decks 

they sounded verygood , as was reel to reel ,the golden age of Audio .

in audio on Average when you make a purchase unless spending $$ a lot of moneys you donot ever get the best quality parts,  25%for example a $10kLoudspeaker only $2500 goes into the complete build including packaging 

the rest R&D overhead and markup,sad but true .i have been modding or upgrading Everything I rebuild my own Loudspeaker Xovers , and have assistance with Electronics which greatly improve the sound ,in mfg terms for every $100 they charge x4 .  Unless you are small and have low overhead costs.

ASR is a great forum for exposing audiophile nonsense.