Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

@brianlucey That's exactly what I did Naim was supposed to be good and class A but I compare my headphone setup with my personal system and it sounds more like my Genelec system. I think the headphones are good what would be a suggestion for the amp/dac? I definitely think headphones need tube amps just on a guess, tubes sound much better to me and if I need to monitor for accuracy the ss system, but for fun the tube system. 

Also I understand your philosophy of sound but it is self refuting if you think about it, ultimately sound being recorded as accurately as possible rather than sounding better subjectively is best practice. Our brains just like sex are the most important organ in hearing and interpreting music but the standard is nature and real acoustic instruments along with natural sounds we hear everyday. Our brains will always hold real sounds as a base line. I remember the B&K omni measurement mic was considered the only accurate reference mic for many years by a government measurement group.

@donavabdear ,

You use monitors that are accurate. Cinemas are professionally set up so there is some level of consistency from cinema to cinema in term of frequency response. You can't assume that with consumers. You are working from a flat response so the only deviation in perception would be your own ears. The customers system may not be flat or accurate but the deviation is only from the flatness of your system and your ears.

If you were to mix and master with a system that was pleasant to your but not accurate, wouldn't that compound the deviation a customer would experience? And that's just you. If someone else doing the same job had a different preference of setup and tuned their working environment system differently couldn't the end result at the customer be a complete swing in tone?  That sounds like a formula for added variability when the customer is looking.

Wouldn't that contribute to why some albums sounds great and others do not, but someone else may have a completely different view?

@thespeakerdude A few things, 1. flat is not useful or preferred. We like a little low bump and high end cut, assuming a pivot at 1k. Flat responses leaves people with no way of working except fear based perfectionism, which is antithetical to great music recording. 2. Translation is the job of mastering, and it’s a skillset ... again see: 1. If everything was about flat response a robot could beat a great mastering job. Doesn’t happen. You are living in polarity: pleasing vs. accurate, and that is a false paradigm. You are imagining, from your own concern aka fear (as stated above) that human emotions and preferences are getting in the way of great recordings, and that is backwards, they are ESSENTIAL to great recordings. We can be passionate and technical at the same time. Both at once is mastery.

@donavabdear This statement is from idealism and perfectionism which are fear based, and this statement is false. "ultimately sound being recorded as accurately as possible rather than sounding better subjectively is best practice." You’re trying to take human emotion and individuality OUT of the process of music, Music is about connecting humans, and that happens when humans are emotionally engaged and the sounds represent that. Music making USES science but music making is NOT A SCIENCE PROJECT. You and @thespeakerdude are both missing the point of music making and music playback. It’s a balance of both subjective and objective. The balance is our choice, and the skill and taste of the chooser is #1 in music recording.  

@thespeakerdude That's why groups like the AES exists to set up standards and practices so the music industry and the film industry will be sustainable. it really is amazing how consistent music and films actually are. To audiophiles with expensive systems it's amazing any music sounds good at all. In a perfect world the studios would use perfect equipment with perfectly consistent practices but we all know that is impossible. Studios do spend millions on equipment and hopefully will keep quality as high as possible and that will translate all the way down to us. There is nothing creative about standard practices but both can live together.