11-22-06: Sean If it sounds good AND measures good, you've probably got one helluva good sounding component and / or system
As opposed to it sounds good but measures bad then you have a bad system? Sorry, I cannot agree with that. Some of my amps have THD numbers as high as 3%, but can reproduce piano recitals with more realism than anything I have ever heard, and believe me, I am intimately familiar with piano.
Measuring is probably very useful on a production/assembly line, but I have never found any correlation between measured numbers like THD and what the amp sounds like to my ears. In fact have heard amp with excellent THD number that are useful only as doorstops. I know, I own a few amps like those.
There is only one measure that determines how a component sounds like - your ears. In my experience the folks let their ears be led by measurements have the least realistic sounding systems (read, total crap sounding systems) out there. And yeah, I have heard many of them too.
Regards
Paul
As opposed to it sounds good but measures bad then you have a bad system? Sorry, I cannot agree with that. Some of my amps have THD numbers as high as 3%, but can reproduce piano recitals with more realism than anything I have ever heard, and believe me, I am intimately familiar with piano.
Measuring is probably very useful on a production/assembly line, but I have never found any correlation between measured numbers like THD and what the amp sounds like to my ears. In fact have heard amp with excellent THD number that are useful only as doorstops. I know, I own a few amps like those.
There is only one measure that determines how a component sounds like - your ears. In my experience the folks let their ears be led by measurements have the least realistic sounding systems (read, total crap sounding systems) out there. And yeah, I have heard many of them too.
Regards
Paul