Audio Science Review = "The better the measurement, the better the sound" philosophy

@djones51

"The disservice this forum has for newbies is the mindset price determines ability which hasn’t been true for decades in this niche hobby. If there is one overall piece of advice I would take from ASR is test for yourself, don’t assume you’re immune from human bias and the biggest factor that determines what you hear is your speakers/room."

+ 100%

It’s funny on this forum that people would complain about ASR when many members here seem to believe that higher price means better listening experience, which most certainly has not been my experience over the years... I’d trust ASR over price any day of the week, particularly when it comes to items like cables, dacs, and even to some extent amps.

That said, you still gotta test things for yourself and I do not always concur with ASR’s conclusions especially when it comes to speakers since those are so personal and ear- and room- dependent, as djones51 points out.

and it occurs to me... as long as we’re talking measurements...

It might be fun, and informative, to go to a high-end audiologist and get ears measured before spending money on anything else.

I’d wager most people think they can hear more objectively than they can... and many of us would benefit from the best of the new hearing aids, myself included. I spent the best money I’ve spent in the past two decades on hi-fi gear when I got high-end hearing aids to help correct for my high-frequency perception loss: measurements showed me what I needed, and it was addressable by custom eq-ing the aids, kinda like room correction for the ears. Suddenly all my gear sounds much better now, go figure, and as a bonus my burning need to "upgrade" stereo gear has considerably faded... although my enjoyment of different speakers has increased! Indeed, my entire experience of LIFE sounds much better now! And high-end hearing aids (think Widex Moment, or Phonak Audeo Paradise) that actually make a big difference both to hi-fi enjoyment AND to life outside hi-fi is a smarter spend than a new expensive amp that would make a smaller difference and also be restricted to the hi-fi realm without addressing the actual issue...

I mean, as long as we’re talking about measurements... set ego aside and make an audiologist appointment: do you dare to do it?

@vonhelmholtz 

So you don't believe that isolating contagion can blunt it?  You don't believe in climate change?  OK... well... lol. How about evolution?  ... Well, in that case, you certainly would not be interested in science; I understand.... beyond that, I don't know what else to say.

@cd318 "There are still many fine people who work selflessly for the common good."

No doubt.  And Marx was hoping that such was inherent human nature, and massaged and frankly made up "historical facts" to support the hope and turn hope into theory which then ran into reality.  Ironically, Marx never really was much of a "worker" himself, treated his own employees terribly, loved spa vacations, and was supported by the money of his buddy Engels' dad (a wealthy factory-owning industrial capitalist)... 

But sure, many fine people work for the "common good," which however is usually open to interpretation and therein lies the rub.  It is possible that the founders of ASR believe themselves to be working for the common good in one small niche by applying science, or their version of it, with the aim of dispelling vaporous myths and questionable claims in the notoriously misty world of audio... a world that is built upon the premise of the possibility of creating illusions, after all. 

That said, I happen to like the illusions created by some speakers that ASR did not like.  It's fine they didn't like them, but I'm with most of you in that I didn't like the tone they took with me when I said so, that I like the speakers in spite of, or perhaps because of, what they deemed to be imperfections... and when they start veering away from science and start to tell me why I'm wrong and even silly or stupid to like something that I do, then they have stepped out of the scientific role and right into the subjective and thus betray the very ideals they purport to support.

That said, I do think they offer a good service, an alternative perspective to consider, as long as they stick to their measurements and leave it at that.

@gosta "A system put toghether from ASR favourites would be very very good. I got one." 

I believe you.

@jtgofish "They boogie. Or perhaps all the people who own and love them are suffering from some sort of mass delusion?"

 Yeah, same point I've made about Klipsch Heresy IV... they dance.  They're addictive.  I'm a long-time "linear sound" kind of guy, but I like 'em, as do obviously many others... and I've gotten grief from oh-so-wise audiophiles for liking 'em (particularly on ASR)...!  So, your question applies...

This thread in which I had some interest has really taken a strange and unfortunate and immature turn.  It's downright embarrassing. 

Moderators?