2. tech-talk
  3. 179565-17492

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

"Audiophiles are Snobs"  Youtube features an idiot!  He states, with no equivocation,  that $5,000 and $10,000 speakers sound equally good and a $500 and $5,000 integrated amp sound equally good.  He is either deaf or a liar or both! 

There is a site filled with posters like him called Audio Science Review.  If a reasonable person posts, they immediately tear him down, using selected words and/or sentences from the reasonable poster as100% proof that the audiophile is dumb and stupid with his money. They also occasionally state that the high end audio equipment/cable/tweak sellers are criminals who commit fraud on the public.  They often state that if something scientifically measures better, then it sounds better.   They give no credence to unmeasurable sound factors like PRAT and Ambiance.   Some of the posters music choices range from rap to hip hop and anything pop oriented created in the past from 1995.  

Have any of audiogon (or any other reasonable audio forum site) posters encountered this horrible group of miscreants?  

fleschler
snapsc
675 posts
 

I see a couple positives at ASR. 

1.  they measure things that might not otherwise be measured. How the measurements are interpreted is up to each of us individually… and if you derive no benefit, you are free to ignore.  
 

2.  ASR points out shoddy construction and safety concerns that you don’t see anywhere else. 

fleschler OP
2,008 posts
 

Yes, and mostly on cheap audio gear.  

laoman's avatar
laoman
439 posts
 

Snapsc: "ASR points out shoddy construction and safety concerns that you don’t see anywhere else. "

No they do not! Topping has had some real reliability issues. These were pointed out by some members of ASR. Amit refused to accept any responsibility for this at all and said he just measures the, So people have bought a "great measuring" dac or amp that sounds average and that quickly breaks down. Wonderful!

fleschler OP
2,008 posts
 

Another reason not to trust anything ASR states as fact or as the best.

jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 

If you want to really get under the skin of the ASR thought police bring up the years of Hi Fi Choice unsighted group test reviews which consistently described significant differences between the sound of components and ranked them accordingly.

Also mention that unsighted tests of speakers and listener preferences show that most people do not prefer a flat frequency response-far from it.And different types of listeners like novice,experienced,audiophile and trained listeners tend to have different preferences.They all prefer more bass and less treble but to varying degrees.So what is the point of worshipping products with ruler flat frequency responses?

More to discover