Empirical Evidence?...the gap between subjective and objective


As a curious music guy without science background, I stand in awe and gratitude for audio's accomplishments in the last half-century.  From Julian Hirsch's "Stereo Review" to the here and now, Julian's measurements calling the shots vs "trust your ears."  I solidly embrace both camps.  Hard science gets us close, then the loosening of emotions in guiding us home.

Some years ago, I stood on a lower Manhattan Street corner, absorbing the cacophony.  Surrounded by moving objects, sirens, vendors, helicopters, humanity...how can 2 channel replicate this?  A distant friend with the pockets to chase high-end surround, smiles.   More importantly, how could that experience be measured and compared with any degree of accuracy?  "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."  Thoughts? 

More Peace, Pin

pinthrift

Giving an image instead of an answer will do only for children...

It is very popular now to think by associating "bubbles" in the head instead of articulating ideas and reasons...

Do you think it is in your favor?

An emotional reaction is not enough in discussion...

I can send you also a sarcastic "image" and my remark about your judgement will then disintegrate in a mere child play...

Are you able to discuss? or just to class people in two groups: bad faith one and good one ?

The fact that you think my remark is an "attack" instead of an instance or an occasion of a possible dialogue speak more about your attitude here than about me...

 

By the way who is the psychopathic "joker" here which is unable to discuss and who answer by desesperate gesture ?

You see sometimes sarcasm is a mirror....

 

 

To resume the point under discussion, most people here in audiogon are not of " bad faith" but take position that does not make sense in the long run to understand  audio experience ...

It is only so because they focus their attention mainly  on the gear, subjectively with their ears, or objectively with analysing tools, but the necessity to CORRELATE subjective perception and objective measures and dispostion in the room  dont appear to them like it is : the foundation of acoustic and psycho-acoustic experience and experiments...

 

 

 

 

 

There's my way (short and succinct), and then there's your way,

All the best,
Nonoise

This is a point that I and others have brought up before in similar threads. I truly believe that a lot of objectivists who argue here can hear the differences that others do and simply dismiss them as insignificant. https://eldfall-chronicles.com/

The underlying reasons are not important. What is, is that they are dealing in bad faith.

Hey I really like playing table games because they are great example of Empirical Evidence as a whole when each game progresses.

He said that only for the pleasure to call some in "bad faith" perhaps and stirring an already troubled pot...

This is a question of acoustic concepts and then of ignorance not of "bad faith" or belief...

It takes few thinking minutes and a simple science aricles search to understand that WE CANNOT distinguish from a background something or an information for which we have not concept......We will automatically dismiss this information as meaningless or like an unperceived background or the 2 at the same times mostly ... Most perception is a learning process of recognition, all the rest is put under the rug as non existing phenomena...

It is true also in acoustic where the background is noise and the information is hidden in it......Why do blind people perceive all forms of houses and tress, and cars around them cycling blind without errors and not you? It is because you never learned to access this information, it is a noise for you and me...

How can you ask for example to someone to detail his experience of "listener envelopment/source width" or LEV/ASW ratio if he never experiment it CONSCIOUSLY ? Someone here very knowledgeable accuse my description to be an "illusion", not knowing that there is no pure objectivity in acoustic separated from a perceiving subjectivity... "Illusion" in music /sound is sometimes our REALITY it is called "meaning"......

It is a question of knowledge and experience in learning experiments not of belief..

 

Than accusing others of "bad faith" only mirror the accuser himself...For sure there is times to times bad faith but it is impossible to accuse an entire group which think and experiment otherwise... Ignorance and lack of acoustics experiments exlain everything in acoustic experience, bad faith justify the person speaking and accusing perhaps, and explain nothing... It is " ideological" babble at best,,,

By the way it is not a " table game" but a CORRELATION optimization process between subjective and objective factors...

Audio is not a gang stake game or a marchandise marketing game first... It is first and last acoustic knowledge and experiments ... Period....

 

We all wanted a great musical experience with an optimal sound experience at the least cost...

This has nothing to do with miraculously superior piece of gear either, even if they exist for sure...

It is related to mechanical, electrical and acoustical and psycho-acoustical controls in the system/house/room...

 

In a word the best measured numbers for a piece of gear will not replace a good room and a good room wil not make a badly designed piece of gear a better one...

In physical acoustic all empirical measures and objective disposition SERVE psycho-acoustical experience and research...And all discoveries about the hearing process and his subjective aspects help us to design improved objective acoustical environment...

The audio system itself is a tool not the only cause factor nor the goal of the acoustic experience...

Then listening the gear without any objective measures nor any objective acoustic disposition around it is ignorance...

But measuring pieces of gear without listening them in the rightful acoustic environment to assess the relation with the measuring process is without much value and is another kind of ignorance, a different hobby at best...

 

This is a point that I and others have brought up before in similar threads. I truly believe that a lot of objectivists who argue here can hear the differences that others do and simply dismiss them as insignificant. https://eldfall-chronicles.com/

The underlying reasons are not important. What is, is that they are dealing in bad faith.

Hey I really like playing table games because they are great example of Empirical Evidence as a whole when each game progresses.

 

He told me that he did, in fact, hear clear differences in power amplifiers, but that he did not value the differences as significant in the context of an audio system.

At the time he was the best source of information about audio gear but he did his listeners a disservice if he heard differences but suggested they were not significant. It's better to let the listener decide if they are significant.