ACTUAL MUSICAL SOUND VS. MEASUREMENTS

@dlevi67 all great points. But what I see is increased nastiness with the arrogance.  I expect today’s young people to not have the level of respect that is expected nowadays.  But some of the older audiophiles are the ones that surprise me. They make personal attacks. I have had them find out what I do as a lawyer and use that. You work for a company and use that. You sell cables and use that.  You paid all that money for an amp or dac or cables when a lot cheaper stuff would have been fine and use that. You allowed a company to sell you snake oil because you are a sucker argument is the one that is used on steroids! 

@hilde45 i get what you are saying.  I guess I’m surprised about the intellectual arrogance that some of them have towards folks they don’t know and don’t know the level of experience they have 

I’m over the whole "Prove it, Bro!" thing. It’s usually based on ignorance and a lack of experience, coupled with an inherent need to try to prove their cheap equipment is just as good as an expensive piece of equipment. Why argue with someone like that?

The second someone uses the term "snake oil", I completely tune out of the conversation and pretty much write off whatever they have to say.

Arrogance bad.  Measurements good.  Two different things. 

There is also the other side of the coin, people who ignore psychology/psychoacoustics and the limits of physics and human hearing.

"I put this cable in and it sounded better", but no indication whether old and new one was swapped in several times: second = better, and confirmation bias.

Or the "break in" aka habituation. I have yet to see a blind A/B test where anybody can tell brand new from broken in piece of equipment >8/10. I don't believe in break in, not for one second unless there is some sort of demonstration. The more outlandish the claim, the more rigorous the demonstration needs to be.

Re ignorance of physics, e.g. Fremer/TAS in the context of TT speed consistency re-parroting marketing material that 1 arc second may be audible. Just the slightest amount of reflection will make it clear that this is physics nonsense.

That coupled with dealers being unwilling/incapable of setting up demos. I asked Upscale Audio to set up a demo to show that TT pinths (as opposed to carts) can sound different, and despite plenty of notice they were unwilling/unable to do that. What's someone who has healthy skepticism and a scientific mind to do? Measurements is a good first approach to cut through the marketing hyperbole. It's not everything, but it is a start.