AUDIO SCIENCE REVIEW and $50 to spend.........

cleeds,

I can understand why someone might think that from what I just wrote.  But if someone were familiar with lots of my stuff on audiogon as well as on ASR, they would understand why I'm here.

I really enjoy discussing the subjective nature of the hobby.  The end result of all of this is "How Does It Sound?"  I have found many subjective reviews and reports by audiophiles on gear both entertaining and useful, and I try to be useful to some degree for others when I've heard gear they may be interested in.

While I appreciate the approach over on ASR quite a lot, I also can find it gets a bit dry.  It's not that ASR members don't love music as much as anyone here, or don't care about listening or the subjective aspect.  But they tend to be wary of putting sound in to language - which goes along with their suspicion of subjective reviewing being little more than unreliable, fanciful poetry.  I disagree heavily with them on that. 

Here, people appreciate sharing subjective experience with equipment, so I get that aspect satisfied here.  When I want a more rigorous look in to audio claims, I"ll tend to go to ASR for that.

This is why I'm always saying I don't want to tell any audiophile how he/she should approach the hobby.   Some are far in to the "listening/subjectivity only" camp, some far in to the "measurements or it didn't happen" camp, and many of us span the gamut in between.

prof

... if someone were familiar with lots of my stuff on audiogon as well as on ASR, they would understand why I’m here ..

I’ll take you at your word because I don’t read ASR for the reasons I’ve explained. And of course you’re as welcome as anyone to participate here. You’re smart enough to know that this isn’t the place to demand "proof" from others, so why not just accept that?

"Their videos are more informative than just about anything you'd find here (and I like this place).   ASR videos have educated many people and have doubtless saved plenty of audiophiles wasting money on items that make little to no sonic differences."
I could not agree any less with this statement. The site consists of jokers who actually know very little and misuse measurements. It is a complete waste of time.

Their videos are more informative than just about anything you'd find here (and I like this place)

A lot of mental confetti being tossed around here.

Valentines Day.  Zip ties.

Nah, not going to go there.

@prof

I enjoyed reading your well-founded comments and considerations.

While I am a strong advocate of premium cables (I didn’t just drink the KoolAide, I chugged the entire pitcher), I can support your argument that highly satisfying musical results can be achieved with "good quality" cables. If all the stars line up -- excellent gear, well-recorded sources, correctly designed acoustical treatments, etc., the results can be quite impressive -- even to "audiophile" ears. Would certainly beat expensive cables in a small and reflective room.

Coming from the perspective of speaker designer/nerd and one who is currently involved in audio performance upgrades, I’ve come to identify a couple of performance factors: Errors of commission. And, errors of ommission. The first involves the phenomena where something in the audio chain is generating sounds that shouldn’t be there. This can be sutle to sledgehammer, but usually audible (and, measurable). The second is simply where a component acts as a "filter" where certain sounds, as well as spacial queques, etc are attenuated, or missing all together. In this sense, it’s possible to introduce a component in the audio stream that "doesn’t sound bad" but merely missing information. In many cases, the listener is not aware what is missing, because there is no reference. I would inject here, that the "right" premium cables WILL provide an additional level of detail and transparency to your system.

I understand your position with Nordost. They do some things well, but not everything. If your opinion of "high end" cables is with this reference, I’d suggest you try something else. Audioquest has never let me down. fyi- my first experience with pizza was one my dad made with Limberger cheese. I thought ALL pizza smelled and tasted like this. It took, me years to give pizza another try. Now, it its a weekly staple to our "diet."

If I recall correctly, I believe it was Geffen who rewired their studio with "audiophile-grade" cables and made something of a big deal about it.

I’ve wondered for years: "If Dark Side of the Moon was recorded in a studio using audiophile cables, would the enhancement in sound quality result in more, or less, mood-altering drugs being used to enjoy it?"