Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

@alexatpos

"there should be no reason why anybody’s opinion about...something trivial as hi fi...should spoil your feeling or joy about it. Writing bitter posts or arguing, or even giving second thought about it is a total waste of time, isn’t it?"

Yes it is.

These forums seem to expose a herd mentality that mobilizes defenders of the faith when folks drive outside of the "acceptable" lane. Based on the comments in this thread, Amir and his measurements are clearly outside of the lane. Thanks for reminding us this is a hobby.

@mahgister- your writing is dense and somewhat difficult to understand sometimes, but I think I have an idea based on my past experience. When I started playing in the studios in the 70’s, I thought I played pretty well, which I guess is why. I got hired.  But I was shocked when I heard that my first playbacks sounded significantly different from what I thought I played. In other words- I was hearing what I thought I played, not what I actually played. It was only after many sessions I was able to train my ears/brain to hear what I was actually playing and make it sound identical to the taped playback. 
so the point is- What is the point?

I have used and owned a few of the products Amir has talked about. He does his measurements and says it’s not doing much or anything. Well, I can hear the changes quickly. Be it a power conditioner, PS Audio Regenerator (my favorite), or a quality power strip. As for power cords, they impact the power supplies and how they react to the sonics of the gear and are very easy to hear again. Its not phycological, because you buy it and bring home then hear a difference that is not there, it is there you hear it, unless you like to delude yourself and I don’t. I own many power cords that I have in storage, the other night while playing my system and ML 532H amp, I thought about the PS Audio Xtreme plus power cords I have and have not used in a while, well I pulled it out, and plug it in and let the amp warm backup, this, of course, cost me nothing, so I cared little if I heard a change I like or not. A few hours later and hit play on my SACD player and immediately I heard the difference from my other power cord a Seltech, it had more body and more presence, and the image was solid but also more relaxed sounding, while not as detailed, it more than made up for it by sounding more tone and color.

So it is not that the Seltech Ruby was bad, it is just that each made the amp and what came out of my speakers give a different presentation. All the vocals were there the vocals but they all came across differently due to how the power cord was interacting with the power supply within the ML 532H and it driving the speaker. You could blindfold me, spin me in circles and sit me down and I could tell you 10 out of 10 if the Ruby was plugged in or the PS Audio Plus. Tests and specs are just that, how things interact when being used together is always an unknown till you have in your own system. Is there a lot of half-truths and marketing BS in audio sure there is, but experience hobbyists and listeners know better. A friend had old MC30 amps by McIntosh refurbished, they were 1959 tube amps and he had a 20K well-reviewed amp, he pulled that and inserted the MC30 1959 amp! Amir would test and spec out nowhere as good as the current amp, he listened and listened and listened, and he said he never heard his system sound as real, musical as it sounded with the MC30, not his past amps all 20K and up. He was shocked at how this old 1959 amp could make more music than the state-of-the-art current amp or any other amp he had in the system over the years. Specs and graphs are one thing, what we all know we can hear is another, like cooking you pick your flavors and spices to what taste good to you, audio system as well. Amir way just by the DAC with the best spec and your done, preamp, amp, and so on. Well, my friend would now tell you differently and that is to his own hands-on experience from an outcome he had not expected much like me swapping ONE power cord on my amp.

My simple answer is no.  Expanding, I started the hobby in the late ‘70 when box stores preached the work of Hirsch and true boutique audiophile vendors were in their infancy.  These new proprietors taught me to listen and not rely on measurements.   A shout out to Audio Breakthroughs, American Audiophile (now gone) and Ears Nova.  I have listened since. 
 

As a regulatory affairs professional and quality engineer working closely with medical device electromechanical design engineers, and aligned with others here who have said the same, measurements are critical in the design phase and quality control phase.  Then optimization must prevail by listening and a purchase decision must be by listening.  
 

To an inside thread - with the utility supply in my area, my system, and to my ears clean power by conditioning made a significant improvement in all areas of reproduction.