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

This is a subjective hobby after all, isn’t it, or do you guys just sit around and look at charts, graphs and oscilloscopes. I enjoy the music more because I don’t worry about how my equipment measures.

The same could be said about non-audiophiles, who don’t even bother putting the amount of effort you have in to what they listen on. People just listening in laptops, iphones, earbuds, enjoying music and getting on with life.

But we audiophiles care about sound quality, and are also fascinated by audio gear (which is why sites like this exist).

The degree to which anyone is fussing over something will vary among individuals and have little to do whether one is in the "measurements camp" or the "listening only" camp; it will depend on the individual or even what particular stage they are at (e.g. in "upgrade/auditioning equipment" mode or sitting back enjoying the system mode).

So, sure you can find ASR members who spend a lot of time fussing over measurements (doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoying their system too). You can also find plenty who just bought some gear based on the available measurements and...that’s that. They just sit back and enjoy.

Alternatively you can find plenty of "subjectivist" audiophiles who endlessly fuss over their speakers/amps/DACs/tubes/cables etc "breaking in" or all manner of tweaky stuff that you won’t find ASR members worrying about. And you can also find more subjective members who aren’t fussing like that and are just enjoying their system - some change their gear a lot, other’s don’t.

So there isn’t any in principle sense in which looking at measurements means someone isn’t able to just enjoy their system. You may enjoy reading a subjective review about equipment, someone else may enjoy reading how a particular thing measured. It’s all good.

@prof 

I think it is a hard concept (or fact) to accept, that for some, deep in whatever aspect of the technology we may be in (for me speakers), that we can get a lot more useful and unbiased information about how something sounds from a very detailed set of measurements than we can from someone (not us) doing a listening review of a product. I can't speak for others, but I expect in whatever product they are experts in, that they also can get as much or more useful and unbiased information from a detailed set of measurements than they can from a listen only review done by someone else.

@andy2 ,

What did you want us to take from that PS video article? One would not measure interconnects by measuring the output of a speaker. Speakers are too sensitive to environmental conditions, prior operation, etc., not to mention that would also introduce an indeterminate error that may also have time effects from the speaker/amplifier interface. Far more accuracy would be achieved by measuring the output of the amplifier without the speaker which is what Bob Carver did when the made the SS amp match the output of the tube amp. A little bit of Paul's bias shining through when he said made the SS amp sound as good as the tube amplifier.

@invalid 

This is a subjective hobby after all, isn’t it, or do you guys just sit around and look at charts, graphs and oscilloscopes. I enjoy the music more because I don’t worry about how my equipment measures.

No, you worry about a ton of things in your system that don't matter while we enjoy music.  You think your wires may have sound.  You think your amp has sound.  You think the table you put the system on has sound.  You think your AC has sound.  You think digital sources have sound.  You think, well, you get the point.

We on the other hand, buy performant systems with confidence and sit back and enjoy it.  We know why it sounds right.  You don't.  You are forever chasing ghosts in audio.  The anxiety that comes with that must be immense.  

Ask anyone who has converted from your camp and above is the answer they give you.  While you keep upgrading, tweaking, replacing stuff to remove that other "veil" and get blacker backgrounds, we queue up another track to enjoy.

So I suggest getting off that talking point.  That dog don't hunt....