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

again, the idea that a handful of measurements conducted by the members of one site somehow invalidates the actual musical listening experiences of generations of listeners just seems kind of absurd. you can learn a lot from measuring gear, but how that translates into "what sounds good" is where things get murky. i can go to ASR right now and say "rogue sphinx is a killer little amp for the money. ive owned it and it rules. trust your ears" and people who have never even heard one will immediately score points off me because it measured "bad". like buddy, try it and then there might be a conversation. otherwise you’re just repeating someone else’s argument

also, axo1989 posted links to some contentious threads there and i recommend checking them out - despite how some of those fellas speak to others, fundamental issues like "what to measure" are far from settled

NAD is effectively a Chinese company with Banking in Canada.

 

They have a contract manufacturer in China, like Apple, and everyone else. Do you consider Apple a Chinese company?

Maybe understanding what the word troll means in the context?

That treads a fine line between humor and trolling. 

I do.

I also consider you a troll @cindyment  err  ​​​​@crymeanaudioriver 

 

Do you consider Apple a Chinese company?

again, the idea that a handful of measurements conducted by the members of one site somehow

 

Several pages of measurements.

Decades of scientific experiments.

Lack of scientific studies to prove otherwise, or demonstrations that have anything approaching scientific validity.

 

fundamental issues like "what to measure" are far from settled

Concerning DACs, interconnect cables, power cables, and to simplify, anything before the output of an amplifier, I have seen no evidence that it has not been settled.

Amplifiers and how they may interact with a speaker? There is room to explore extreme ends of products. I am not aware that the challenge that two amplifiers with low distortion, high damping, and matched frequency response withing 0.1db has been broken yet.

Speakers? There is no one that claims measurements of speakers are settled or will ever be settled.

It is fine to make claims, but it is good to have data other than your personal feeling, the feelings of others, and the marketing sheet to back it up.

 

One thing just struck me. As passionate as the people in this thread are that ASR is wrong, I see no effort to prove ASR wrong. You have all the tools you need. Your ears, and your systems. All you need is an impartial person to run an experiment and record the results.  You probably need someone with a more scientific bent to set up the experiment, but it is not very hard. I raise the point before. I am sure the users at ASR would be thrilled to help you set up an experiment.

I don't expect any of you to do it though. I cannot do it. It is too easy to say I am biased if I hear no difference. You are biased to find a difference.

 

There was a head phone amplifier reviewer on Youtube, somewhat respected, that claimed with 100% certainty he could tell two amplifiers apart. Someone challenged and he took up the challenge. I applaud his willingness to be public about the result. The result? In a blind test, he could not tell the amplifiers apart. Not at all.