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Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)

About 25 years ago I was inside a large room with an A-frame ceiling and large skylights, during the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. This one time was like no other, for two reasons: 1) There were large, red, fragmenting streaks multiple times a minute with illuminated smoke trails, and 2) I could hear them.

Yes, each meteor produced a sizzling sound, like the sound of a frying pan.

Amazed, I Googled this phenomena and found that many people reported hearing this same sizzling sound associated with meteors streaking across the sky. In response, scientists and astrophysicists said it was all in our heads. That, it was totally impossible. Why? Because of the distance between the meteor and the observer. Physics does not allow sound to travel fast enough to hear the sound at the same time that the meteor streaks across the sky. Case closed.

ASR would have agreed with this sound reasoning based in elementary science.

Fast forward a few decades. The scientists were wrong. Turns out, the sound was caused by radiation emitted by the meteors, traveling at the speed of light, and interacting with metallic objects near the observer, even if the observer is indoors. Producing a sizzling sound. This was actually recorded audibly by researchers along with the recording of the radiation. You can look this up easily and listen to the recordings.

Takeaway - trust your senses! Science doesn’t always measure the right things, in the right ways, to fully explain what we are sensing. Therefore your sensory input comes first. You can try to figure out the science later.

I’m not trying to start an argument or make people upset. Just sharing an experience that reinforces my personal way of thinking. Others of course are free to trust the science over their senses. I know this bothers some but I really couldn’t be bothered by that. The folks at ASR are smart people too.

nyev
mastering92
870 posts
 

@hilde45

Long ago, there was proof of collusion between said site admin and now-popular Chi-Fi audio brands (execs and designers) on various forums.

I’m glad you think so. And it’s true. If you do enough digging online, you would be very lucky to find even 1 forum post that confirmed this as fact....like I said..it’s been paved over. Think about it - asking for donations + an overabundance of audio gear from particular audio manufacturers. No 3rd party testing or validation of his measurements. But why would he need to?! He’s a genius afterall...send it to audio precision...get them to do even more measurements and we’ll see who’s right.

That forum is where you go for digital conspiracy theories ....

Like my father used to say: "nobody gives you anything for free in this world. There is always a cost."

I actually enjoy posting here on audiogon because it’s a great community. I ask a question, people answer with useful info. I try my best to reciprocate. It’s fun being on here...

nyev OP
1,026 posts
 

@noske , it’s not as if I colluded with Earth and Sky to rewrite history to prove my point in this thread. I found that 25 years ago when I experienced this phenomena that it was widely questioned and even ridiculed. I merely found an article to corroborate my experience 25 years ago. It was the very first link I clicked today that corroborated it. Sorry!

Not questioning that the science existed way before. But no one was applying it in these scenarios until a researcher, Keay, was able to record it. Remember there is a difference between scientific theory and recorded proof of the theory.

If you think that very article I found somehow is bogus, well, I’m sure you can find it corroborated elsewhere, in many, many places….

Here is one for the road, from NPR, saying Scientists doubted the accounts of those hearing meteors.  

NPR

So yeah… Sorry!

 

nyev OP
1,026 posts
 

My original post wasn’t really meant to start a ASR bash thread, but I see that probably will happen anyways!  Conspiracies would be bad but hey bad stuff happens in this world.

My post was simply sharing a personal account that demonstrates, extremely well in my opinion, why I believe it’s critical to start with your senses, and only then apply science and measurements.  Which really what John Atkinson has done for all those years.

Does that present an alternate philosophy to that of ASR? Absolutely.  But wow I can’t bring myself to passionately hate on them as much as some do!

tuberist's avatar
tuberist
951 posts
 

For amusement I viewed ASR yesterday. Seemed like audio gear was equated with lab equipment,  not musical reproduction. To each their own. 

nyev OP
1,026 posts
 

@tuberist , exactly.  To each their own.  No harm no foul.  Conspiracy theories notwithstanding.

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