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

@jtgofish I mentioned two such ASR member posters who appear quite reasonable (one who has gotten lambasted like me) and another who posts but no one appears to confront him. I’m sure there are others. Note that my disagreements are character assassination based, defamation, not with his ASR business practices which I may disagree on but are perfectly legal (unlike posters who want to put high end manufacturers in prison for allegedly defrauding the public). So, it’s not us versus them in my forum, but defamation (the taking of a person’s good name is almost like killing them) and lack of transparency while uttering unsupported or undersupported assertations of equipment quality.  Now this is not just most ASR members but Amir himself who commits defamation of character.

 @amir_asr

Now addressing this bit in OP:

@fleschler

Some of the posters music choices range from rap to hip hop and anything pop oriented created in the past from 1995.

How on earth did this pass as an argument? "Some of the posters" listen to this and some other music? What if they did? That makes them less of a music lover and audiophile?

You expletive!!! (reposted because I don't want to stoop down to his level)  You are doing exactly what your minions did to me. Taking what I said out of context. I said one poster listened to a type of music which would be difficult to use to achieve an evaluation of the loudspeaker or system sound. I said that it could be appealing to that listeners choice of music. I NEVER stated that that listener's choice of music was wrong or anything about his character.  You pervert other posters thoughts here as your minions do on ASR.  Character assassin!!!

OldHvyMec at ASR makes cogent and experienced statements concerning "ALL things BREAK-IN." He has the reputation to make that assertion, especially in relation to cables/wires and equipment of all types (including audio).

HarmonicTHD member asserts "Cables are not mechanics. There is no wear, nor Burn-In, nor Break-In."

Then JSmith and Axo1989 talk about pancakes, off-topic and irrelevant.

This is a typical ASR dialogue.

 

"If I had to describe my place in this division, I would say I’m looking at a much bigger picture. I work with the end product, the sound that comes out of my loudspeakers. I’m working for a sound that pleases me. Mr. Amir is looking at the microscopic details, the grain of the wood, if you will, and I’m assembling an entire landscape. The tools I use are different than the tools he uses."

@russ69 

I am the same way. The sound which pleases me comes from a single fullrange driver mounted on a transmission line and powered by a tube amplifier. That's what I like. I listen to a lot of chill music and vocals are the most important quality for me. 

Try explaining that to ASR. You will be ridiculed. Tube amplifiers = trash. Fullrange drivers = trash. No experience or subjective listening necessary. It is trash. Shame on you. 

 

??? Our aim is the same as yours. We want maximum enjoyment out of our music and want to optimize our gear to get there.

@amir_asr

This neatly encapsulates what some may perceive as your apparent myopia, and the associated problem that many have with ASR. If you believe that the above is truly a shared goal, then why on earth would you insist that better measuring components necessarily produce better sound?

Do you really imagine that those countless audiophiles who derive immense enjoyment from tube amplifiers, or Nelson Pass amps, would somehow find even greater enjoyment through the use of amps with lower distortion? Do you not understand that many, if not most of them, have spent decades optimizing their gear for precisely the purpose that you mention?

Pass, as you probably know, conducts listening tests on his new amp designs, the results of which have typically led him to intentionally introduce some distortion. In other words, a high percentage of listeners in those tests preferred the sound signature of the amps with some added distortion.

I think that part of the problem is that you, and many objectivists, conflate "best sound" and accuracy. Yes, you might reasonably argue that components with the least amount of distortion are more likely to reproduce recordings more accurately than those which introduce some distortion, but to then assume that such sound is necessarily "better" is a dubious leap.