Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

fittebd said, 

The only thing Amir changed my mind on is to never visit the site again.  Not because I do not believe in measurements the site is pure hate.  If you don’t like what we say its attack and even take posts down.  That is not vey open.  I do not want to visit nor give it any clicks towards money.  Period

Wow!  This is exactly my view!  I started off with an open mind about the site and that was extinguished.  Folks get nasty over there. They are evangelists for sure.  So rigid, closed minded, and essentially a feedback loop. 

My opinion, above, does not affect my opinion on the usefulness of measurements in general or in design.  

The problem with Amir is not that he's always wrong, it's that his site and his views are always right--in the mind of the evangelists.  That's no way going to be part of my audio journey. 

fredapplegate said

Ironically, I think ASR changed my mind about the importance of measurements as an arbiter of good sound. It seems that we've reached a point where distortion products are so vanishingly small that even bad measurements don't mean much.

Genius Fred!  I believe David Manley once said that 1% THD in a tube amp is meaningless--amps can sound good or bad with that level.  Now that we are in the territory of .00000X% THD, we are in the land of silly.  Amir's tests show us what sounds great to his test equipment--not the human ear.

@ghasley ​​​​@jjss49 

I couldn't agree with you more.  This is tribalism.  

The evangelists at ASR can be quite nasty.  I had to bow out from discussions there entirely.  I'm not commenting on Amir as a person or what he is trying to do.  I don't really know if I have the full picture or get the point of such efforts. 

I do, however, think that the ASR website is not a friendly place where one can learn much about this hobby.  

I'm willing to bet a dollar that John Atkinson didn't trash that Luxman tube amp because, like David Manley, he understands that such distortion levels (a) may not matter (audible or inaudible) to the human ear; and/or (b) may sound pleasing to the human ear.  There's a big assumption in the ASR conclusion that the Lux is a bad amplifier--just as there's a big assumption in the ASR conclusions that some other amplifiers are deserved of a golfing pink panther. 

And as @mahgister as adroitly pointed out, is this science?  The assumption calls into question the use of label "science review".  

Personally, I'd love to walk into a room with a pair of 100dB speakers and hear that little Lux churning out a half watt of sound! 

Mr. Atkinson's write-ups just sound more scientific and don't have schtick.  I prefer them. Others may prefer ASR.  It's free country.  I just hope ASR helps people on their audiophile journey.  It doesn't work for me though.