Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

@prof measurements are important and that’s without a doubt. But alone, the measurements cant tell you how a component will sound or what sonic changes a cable can make.
Testing Nordost Tyr 2 on a Topping DAC driving a Topping amp using headphones won’t tell you much for few reasons - Topping components aren’t high end by any means and listening in headphones, no matter how good they are, can’t give you the full scope of a tested component and can’t reveal changes to imaging and soundstage simply because headphones don’t do soundstage like a pair of high end speakers can set up with right components in the properly treated room. It’s just not the same. And there’s no way around it.
Amir, having a very decent system from what I understand with mega-buck components and speakers, chose to test the cable in much less than ideal configuration. And this is not just with that cable. There are more instances of such listening tests conducted by Amir. If you tell me this isn’t a definition of flawed testing, I don’t know what is. 

I have an educated bias when it comes to purchasing audio equipment.

I do not want to purchase a cartridge with a rising high end and I haven’t in 54 years.

I do not want to purchase a speaker that requires high powered amplification. Medium power (20 watts to 125 tube watts generally).

I do not want to purchase a tangential tracking tone arm.

I will not purchase a stat speaker again (tried them for 20 years).

These are among my biases, mostly based on measured statistics concerning those audio products.

Measurements are important mostly as a starting point. Listening to equipment in a system in a room will either please me or not (I’ve walked out of most of the audio 1000s of showrooms I’vve heard due to bad sounding systems, often due to acoustic and electrical issues in showrooms).

@audphile1 Absolutely. Using higher end equipment (tweaks included) may or may not work well with lesser equipment, particularly if the lower end result will lack resolution of some audio factor (detail, body, dynamics, PRAT, etc etc). I wouldn’t know that my higher end DAC was good without an equally excellent transport. They work in symmetry. Imagine using Hallographs on Bose speakers. Nope.

@audphile1 

measurements are important and that’s without a doubt. But alone, the measurements cant tell you how a component will sound or what sonic changes a cable can make.

Yes actually it can.  Measurements really can tell you what you won't hear in a cable.  Amir showed how the measured signal of the Nordost lined right up with that of a cheap cable.  That tells you they will be audibly indistinguishable (in any likely set up).

You apparently reject this because you believe whatever you think you hear.  That's the problem.

It's no doubt the same problem that lead you to claim:

Testing Nordost Tyr 2 on a Topping DAC driving a Topping amp using headphones won’t tell you much for few reasons - Topping components aren’t high end by any means

On what basis do you conclude the Topping is not "high end?"  What do you think that means?   Amir actually has measurements showing the excellent performance of the Topping, with noise below our hearing threshold.

It's not "high end" in being expensive...but you shouldn't judge gear based on price, but on performance!  And not on manufacturer's claims either.  Amir actually tests manufacturers claims.

And if you simply reject the objective evidence Amir provides because your "ears" tell you, after listening to the Topping, it's not "high end" then that just brings us back to my point:  it's the Golden Ear refrain. "I Know What I Hear...measurements be damned." 

It's not actually unfalsifiable, because you COULD put what you think you hear to blind test controlling for bias.  But most audiophiles won't do that, so in their world "what they perceive" is unfalsifiable.   Just like my claim to hear angels on the Miles Davis record.  And since I won't be blind tested, and I reject the primacy of measurements, well...nobody can prove me wrong.

@amir_asr also just FYI…I watched your review on YouTube…

Tyr 2 is the top of the Nordost Norse line. Cables in that line cary the names of gods in Old Norse (Germanic Mythology). Not an indicator of how the cables sound by any stretch of imagination. But a quick search prior to recording your review would have helped you learn something new that you can relay to your viewers and prevent you from appearing ignorant while poking fun at the names Nordost chose for their cables. It did make your attempt at sarcasm and humor fall flat on its face right out of the gate, at least to those familiar with the subject. 

@prof I am not here to prove you right or wrong. I’m expressing my point of view and my take on the review.
I also don’t know of any Miles Davis recording under the name of “Kinda Blue”. I’m very familiar with his “Kind of Blue” album as I have 2 vinyl albums of it, one by MoFi on a 45rpm and one by Analog Productions on their fantastic HQR Clear Vinyl. I also have the original CD as well as remastered one plus a DSD file. They all, just like different cables, sound very different. I can tell you what album version is playing blindfolded. Just like I can tell you when you switch from generic XLR cables to Nordost Tyr 2. In my system that I am very familiar with. There are no singing angels on “Kind of Blue”. Just awesome music performed by amazing musicians that were recorded by a very talented team of sound engineers. You can disagree with me all you want. But the Topping DAC and amp don’t cut it here and like I already mentioned, headphones aren’t capable of reproducing the fine layers and depth of soundstage you’d experience with a properly set up 2ch stereo system.
I guess Amir would agree with me here or else he’d be using the Topping amp in his reference system in place of his $23,000 amps. I stand my ground on his testing being flawed and the results of his review being inconsequential without conducting a proper listening test. You can continue sticking to your guns. You have an argument but it’s just not a valid one. That is my take on this matter. If it doesn’t make sense to you, I’m completely fine with that.