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

How about some empirical data points.

Context: Long time audiophile, heard many multi $100K systems, my own system well over $100k.

Cocurrently owned Auralic Vega, LKS 004, Okto Dac 8 stereo, Musetec MH DA005. I know ASR reviewed both Okto and Musetec, Okto superior signal to noise and jitter measurements, Musetec did rather poorly compared to virtually every dac they've measured.

My experience with all these dacs, Musetec superior resolving, transparency, at least equal to Vega and Okto in ease, relaxed qualities, far superior dynamics, especially micro.

Based on ASR measurements, this dac should be relatively low resolving, transparency, have nervous, digital sound quality,, small sound stage. None of these things relate to how it sounds.

ASR signal to noise measurements of dacs has virtually no bearing on real world listening as analog section in audio systems higher noise. I see virtually nothing in their measurements that gives much insight to quality of dac power supply, things like authority, micro dynamics, or how it impacts flavor. More interested in jitter measurements, while 005 poor jitter measurements don't translate to sense of digititus or small sound stage, would be insightful to see improved jitter with this unit and see if that translated to even more ease and larger sound stage.

005 has been also compared to at least one other dac they've tested, vs Mola Mola Tambaqui, another superior measuring dac, 005 preferred in at least one case. 005 has also been compared to Weiss and Holo May amongst others, held it's own in all company. Based on ASR measurements this dac sucks, not true in real world.

It would be enlightening to see far more of these empirical data points, comparison reviews of dacs ASR has reviewed would give us far more insight into possible correlations. My take is this particular measurement protocol tells us very little about how these dacs sound in real world.

Take a look at this post on sound signature of amplifiers

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measuring-the-sound-signature-of-two-different-integrated-amplifiers.37963/

ASR is like Audiogon.  There is a wide range of opinions on Audiogon the same way there is a wide range of opinions on ASR.  Amir pays for the website and offers his opinions.  Other readers like me can provide my opinions too, and it’s not deleted or censored and can be put up to the front page too.

What makes ASR different is that opinions should be backed by something that is not purely subjective nor purely relying on the trust of the an expert opinion.  Amir’s standard test set might not capture every last bit of potential for audio performance, but it is reliable and reproducible and FREE. Ground loops can be a real difference in home environments and there are times that I can get product A to perform just as well as product A in Amir’s lab, but product B in my home measures worse (and potentially sounds worse).  This is where testing at home is important.

30 years ago, we said that it was impossible to measure certain things we can hear.  The software and hardware has gotten better.  We can measure differences.

@kota1 I'm on the same page. If you were in the same city as me I'd share a drink with you. And Amir as well.

@gxalan, welcome to the forum, I see this is your first post. Can you tell us a little bit about your system, your taste, and what you would like to achieve in this hobby? If you were on a desert island and could only bring three CD's, what would they be? If you had a fire and could only take one component from your home what would you take?

@kokakolia , thanks for the reply, maybe we will meet at an audio event in the future (it could be virtual but the champagne will have to stay on ice.)

i find the "he’s just doing this for money" critique ridiculous. way to offer up a perfect mirror image of the bad faith argument you can see on ASR every single day. "we must conclude that by making poor (according to my arbitrary tests) design choices, these manufacturers are clearly only out to deceive gullible audiophiles" "that’s just snake oil" etc : "amir is only in this for money". it’s the same stupid argument from both camps. better to judge peoples opinions on their merits instead of reading malice into every little thing you disagree with