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

@thespeakerdude  audibly transparent according to measurements maybe, but not in listening tests. 

A lot of scientific work revealed to the public is not peer reviewed and all that is reviewed is method.

There’s a little more to it than that. For example, the logic and premise are examined, and that step alone would disqualify a lot of the "science" as seemingly practiced at ASR.

The peer review does not consist of other people replicating the work as you have suggested.

That is absolutely true.

Even with peer review, many poor papers are published and if you are presenting new concepts there may not be any one "better than you".

Yes, both extremes exist: papers that have little or no value, and papers that have enormous value.

What really happened to Pons & Fleischmann in the early ’80s (hint: the University of Utah really effed it up) explains what can happen when science goes wrong, even when respected researchers are involved.

Or @andy2 , looks like the vendor got caught making claims that were not all true and a "feature" that was not a feature at all and is now doing damage control.

I think ASR is a great service to community. Here is why:

 

Imagine a young dude with no money still in parents’ payroll. How would he base the decision on what to buy? He has no idea what good sound is, and no local audio stores. And he has no money, remember.

 

That’s where ASR comes in play. Bingo! Cheap China stuff that measures best. Numbers don’t lie. Parents HAVE to open their wallet based on proof from a highly regarded scientist. Beat it!

Oh Cin Dyment @thespeakerdude : I thought you were limited to that one thread. But just like your previous 17+ usernames here (see list of your prior usernames below) you are proliferating everywhere, like you always have done. This time, slowly but surely. Sad bad creature….

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thespeakerdude

 

cindyment2

 

oddioboy

 

crymeanaudioriver

 

theaudiomaniac

 

theaudioamp

 

deludedaudiophile

 

thynamesinnervoice

 

cindyment

 

snratio

 

yesiamjohn

 

sugabooger

 

dletch2

 

audio2design

 

dannad

 

roberttdid

 

roberttcan

 

heaudio123

 

audiozenology

 

atdavid

———————

 

This time around you are pretending to be a speaker manufacturer. Which we both know it’s a made up fantasy.
 

Post your credentials here, or even a list of your current stereo equipment (no need to post pictures or proof of what you play music with, I will take your word), and I will eat crow, no matter how many times you hate audiophiles here