Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

Yes.

Amir has reinforced some of my views for sure. Mainly about the absolute absurdity of exotic power cables and the mind boggling pricing of them. He's also confirmed some opinions held by people I trust, specifically sound engineers.

Most importantly he's opened my eyes to some new products that I otherwise would have ignored.

I work in an industry that is parallel to the world of sound recording and reproduction. In my field, there is raging debate as to what camera is best, what lens is sharper and what format is most appropriate. All of these factors can be measured but choices are guided by having a good overall understanding of all the parameters including the perception of others. It's not that different in the audio world.

I've been interested in audiophilia for most of my life. I love the exotic engineering excesses of it. But I am acutely aware of the spurious claims made by some manufacturers and the "law of diminishing returns" with regard to some engineering approaches.

He is a thoughtful and interesting person who just provides objective, comparative test results of equipment, based on relevant criteria. That he attracts so much vitriol is baffling to me. I get he might ruffles feathers, but that is why he is interesting.

I'll continue to read ASR with considerable interest.

This thread is sounding more and more like a Google Review page 😁

Amir is interesting, I think he does a lot of good in providing tons of data at no cost, especially in the realm of speaker measurements.

However, I find his tone condescending and I do not appreciate how he treats others. His attitude towards Erin has been baffling since their first interaction. I hoped he would mellow out and adopt a more humble persona over time but that does not seem to be in the cards. He clearly views any feedback or suggestions on improvement as an attack.

I've learned a lot reading ASR, especially with regards to making electrical measurements at home with high performance ADCs. I find ASR attracts people who value similar things to me (tied with DIY Audio) and I especially enjoy helping others. However, I feel a bit ashamed to participate given Amir's attitude / behavior. The closure of the thread discussing Erin's recent video (but not before Amir got in two final attacks) being a prime example.

Michael

Paul Barton, of PSB, worked with Toole, Harmon and others back in the day of speaker testing. Check out Darko's interview with him. Worth a listen.

Lots of people like to name drop the audio greats and then go on to reengineer their methods of testing while hoping no one catches on or knows better on just how to do it, fancying themselves as being oh, so, scientific.

Paul pointed out that when doing the first round of speaker testing (1/2 hours worth), the tests were thrown out the window due to the fact that the people were listening to the room and not the speakers. Evaluations were all over the place. It's why one has a better chance on getting their ears around a speaker in the confines of their own listening room.

It tool at least half an hour for their hearing to settle down before they could go back in and when they did, the very same speakers in the very same room sounded completely different and there was more consensus on what sounded good to them. Their hearing had adjusted to the room and not the speakers. 

Our ears adapt to a changing environment enough so that with enough time, we can better understand what we hear. We do it automatically when the change isn't that great but we still do adjust. Some call it second nature.

What bugs me the most is that those who do the name dropping know damn well the facts I just stated if they have, indeed, looked into these speaker tests and conveniently left out those salient facts, relying on ignorance to carry the day.

All the best,
Nonoise

Yes my new opinion is he is a measurementophile not an audiophile.  We should’ve be talking about him in these forums.