The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines.

I say what I said above because I see too many people equate

ASR = Data & Science & Facts.

Sinad and THD do not represent the entirety of science nor audio.

ASR most praised products do not sound good.

I can tell you exactly why the Topping D90SE is a mediocre product. Clearly distinguishable in a blind test.

Keep in mind the D90SE is the best measurement DAC of all time. There’s a clear disconnect here.

While on the topic of the best measured dac ever. Benchmark designer made the Benchmark Dac 1 and for years he insisted it's the best dac. It cannot be improved further.

But people did not like the Dac 1. Some years later, the Dac 2 was released.

While on the topic of the best measured dac ever. Benchmark designer made the Benchmark Dac 1 and for years he insisted it’s the best dac. It cannot be improved further.

But people did not like the Dac 1. Some years later, the Dac 2 was released.

Been there, done that. Had DAC3B. One of the least engaging DACs I’ve owned. My prior two dacs and subsequent two dacs after the Benchmark DAC3B all measured worse, and they all sounded more engaging, more fun to listen to. What’s being measured and what is being suppressed and filtered out does not always correlate for me in translation to good sound,

@decooney 

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petaluman:

I am aware the small list of speakers I mentioned are "box" designs (stretching the definition for the Genelecs and the Dutch&Dutch) and am well aware of the several categories of speakers that are not of a box design. My comment was specific to Amir's own "reference" speaker--his Revels, and my general observation of the preferences of commenters on the ASR site appear to be. I do not believe I wrote anything to suggest I was unaware of the alternatives to box design speakers, planars, planar-hybrid, horn, horn-hybrid, open baffle, never mind the variants of box designs, transmission line, or for that matter transducer variations with ribbon tweeters, long-stroke woofers, field coil transducers, too many to list.The ASR site seems to sample whatever the readership sends for testing, and most appear to be monitor-size boxes, which is to be expected at those dominate the market. Occasionally a product from an audiophile brand is sent in only to be tested and found wanting, which then excites contentious responses.

I am sure if you were willing to ship Amir a pair of Magnepans for testing, he would oblige.