Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?


It’s easy to make snide remarks like “yes- I do the opposite of what he says.”  And in some respects I agree, but if you do that, this is just going to be taken down. So I’m asking a serious question. Has ASR actually changed your opinion on anything?  For me, I would say 2 things. I am a conservatory-trained musician and I do trust my ears. But ASR has reminded me to double check my opinions on a piece of gear to make sure I’m not imagining improvements. Not to get into double blind testing, but just to keep in mind that the brain can be fooled and make doubly sure that I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing. The second is power conditioning. I went from an expensive box back to my wiremold and I really don’t think I can hear a difference. I think that now that I understand the engineering behind AC use in an audio component, I am not convinced that power conditioning affects the component output. I think. 
So please resist the urge to pile on. I think this could be a worthwhile discussion if that’s possible anymore. I hope it is. 

chayro

Showing 4 responses by brianlucey

Was not familiar with this fellow until just now.  I will only say as a musician and engineer that it's silly for someone who is not a highly experienced recording engineer, highly experienced musician, or a respected music maker in any legit capacity to claim definitive hearing abilities.  And if he is claiming that balanced audio interconnects are all basically the same sounding things, nothing past that is of value.

Sensitivity and repetitive practice are key to build our listening skill.  AB comparisons at times are needed, yet it's always with the intent of learning how to trust our evolving listening skill.  Frame of Reference is key.  If our frame of reference is objectivist measurements, we've missed the point of music making and music listening completely.  Music is not a science project.  Faulty premise. 
 

Measuring one thing in a chain of things as a way to judge it is good for those who have not learned to trust, or who are afraid to learn to trust themselves. 
 

@mapman "technology is the key to good sound" is overreaching.  Class D is innovative tech.  Measures well.  Not the best sound to all.  Neve 1073 style microphone pre amps (transformer/class A) are very old tech, still preferred by many top music makers.  
 

Truth is there are times when a brilliant equipment designer will choose something that measures worse because it sounds better.  That is taste.  Listening skill.  Listening always trumps measuring for the truly intelligent.  
 

How do we measure a great piece of music?  A great recording ?  Can't be done.   Relying on measuring comes from fear of trusting ourselves.  It's missing the whole point of music making and music listening.  
 

Science is one means towards an end.  Not an end in itself.  I love science.  It's not the authority here however.  

@decooney what is the "disinformation" you speak of ?  
 

No one can dispute a well made measurement.  The issue it's validity.  

Back to the cable thing, is this gentleman saying that the entire cable industry is without musical merit?  If so, he's literally deaf, or has a terribly low quality playback system/room