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I Am Tired of Bogus Measurements

My expensive shoes have measurements but it doesn’t matter, all I want to know is will they fit. My expensive new suit has measurements but it doesn’t matter, all I want to know is will my expensive new shoes match.

The people being misled by measruements aren’t being led my manufacturers, they are being misled by reviewers. Idiotic rankings of digital gear based on measurements outside the range of human hearing. Cancelling entire brands who put out features customers actually want as they sell to humans, not bats. The worst of these websites will rant about their own superior $$$ equipment but mot even one person will ever use speakers in a klippel matchine, they actually put them in a room! The horror. The cancelling of brands, the talking down to the customers, is bogus.

You need to measure what matters! Are the customers actually happy? Is the warranty honored? Most importantly is their an in home audition period?
I don’t need someone to tell me if I could or should like a product. My room is not a test bench, or a klippel machine. Who cares what the component measures by itself because unless its a clock radio I’ll never use it by itself, I have to interconnect it in a "system" with "high quality" cables, (as in all cables are not the same).

If you want to measure something measure how your personal system of curated components interact with your room. That’s it. The rest of the stuff you could forget because these days if a brand overpromises and under delivers they will be following a formula for losing money, an no company likes that.

kota1

Showing 2 responses by texbychoice

texbychoice
143 posts
 

Dr. Floyd Toole stated "Two ears and a brain respond very differently to a complex sound field — and are much more analytical — than an omni-directional mic and analyzer."  A very significant point from a man that should know.

I spent many years chasing the best measuring audio products within my budget. Some eliminated via in store audition, some traded after at home performance fell short.  Listening always the final arbiter. 

Many years spent designing and testing complex electronic systems.  Measuring and testing was excruciatingly long and detailed process.  The last hurdle was performance in the intended environment.  Measurements provided a reasonable predictor of performance, but never 100%.  

texbychoice
143 posts
 

A while back discovered an interview with the gentleman that developed the REW software.  Math and science the foundation of that software that took years of effort. Quite surprising and illuminating that the developer discovered it incredibly difficult to find clearly documented "standards" produced by the audio organizations claimed to be the authorities.  Essentially, the industry standards regularly referenced by measurement purists were actually vague and open to interpretation by the user.

In the disciplined scientific measurement world, correlation is paramount.  That means the measurement process and environment is defined in every possible detail.  When an independent second, third, or fourth organization or person follows the process and gets the same result, there is correlation.  The results are validated and repeatable because equipment, environment, and human variables are eliminated or controlled. 

Audio measurements are not necessarily bogus.  They simply do not meet the high standard of correlation.  Amateur reviewers, regardless of equipment used, do not come close to correlation.  There is attention to details required the amateur in a garage, home office, or barn does not and cannot deal with.  Are their results good enough for the audio consumer? Probably, with a caveat or two.

Quote-unquote good measurements are a reasonable indicator that significant flaws do not exist.  Those same measurements do not necessarily indicate a sound quality everyone will find acceptable.  We all have different brains, ears, and preferences. That is a wonderful thing that is not defined by measurements.   

         

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