What amps do Electrical Engineers own...why?

As an EE, I like good specs but at the same time I recognize that the way we humans perceive sound is something that cannot be ignored! So instead of going for the usual bench specs (which were mostly created 40-some years ago and mostly ignore human hearing rules) I look for that which might allow the gear to more closely obey human hearing rules.

Being pragmatic, I am of the opinion that if we did not have ears we would not mess with audio equipment. IOW, the human ear is the most important thing in audio. All too frequently though I see its requirements swept under the carpet in favor of the Emperor's New Clothes, the bench spec.

So I run tubes as much as I can. And no feedback, as much as I can. But I run into a lot of EEs that don't seem to understand how important the human hearing rules are; they seem to quite often have a $600 solid state amp that sounds terrible. You can be an EE and still be fooled by made-up stories!

Sspecs were once very important in audio, and still are in EVERYTHING else. I remember back in day when brands like McIntosh were considered high-end. If memory serves me, they would send techs around to your home every so many years, to bring the amps back up to factory SPEC, for the life of the amp. This was back when this was a REAL hobby. NOW, it's just a status thingy to a lot of people and the sellers / makers are just meeting a demand in the market. Just make it look a certain way and cost enough to keep the lower classes out, then declare specs irreverent! It's how it sounds that matters. And they don't even have to make any claims as to how their stuff sounds, the marks, errrr , I mean, the buyers do that for them. It's the perfect setup!! Only in audio!!!!.

Atmasphere,
Are you suggesting these EEs with bad sounding amplifiers can`t 'hear' that they`re bad or that they don`t care as long as the specs are good?How can anyone buy audio components(presumably to enjoy music) and not judge them based on how they sound? Or is what`s horrid to you may be good sound to them?
Regards,

monoblock design, fully balanced circuit, massive horsepower, Heavy build and heat generating capability. All of these criteria just happened to end up being designed into a very musical sounding and beautiful casing. The key is patience to find it at a good price.

Do all E.E.'s here claim everything sounds the same? Whether it be wires, amps, and CD players? That's the general consensus from E.E.'s over at AVS Forum, not sure if the same applies here on the Gon.