The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines.

OK, that was long. So much for concise.

Let's try again:

Measuring audio gear and interpreting correctly what it all means without overlooking something important is HARD. After 30 years of ongoing study and practice as an engineer, I'm still learning new things all the time.

The ASR crowd is well meaning and I applaud Amir's attempts to help educate the public - he is doing a great service, but lots of people get carried away with accepting his test results as the be-all-end-all last word.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." –– Mark Twain

Meanwhile, the high-end audio industry is unfortunately plagued by hucksters selling pseudo-science and snake oil. It's gradually improving in my opinion, but still a problem that contaminates the credibility of subjective reviewers.

Ultimately, I believe the situation regarding measurements and their correlation to subjective results still has some distance to go, but will continue to improve. But until we arrive at the magical land where the numbers can tell you everything, just trust your own ears and enjoy the hobby.

@toronto416

samples of wines are assessed by a reviewer who measures multiple variables including light transmission, specific gravity, residual sugar, salinity, boiling point etc.

I have had the good fortune to work professionally with wineries and know a few wine/grape experts, including one whose family has a California winery. I have visited many and been on behind the scenes tours with wine makers and other professionals. What you describe is EXACTLY how wines are grown and made. The poetry about the nose and the personality and the terroir enter in the tasting and marketing phase. There is art but there is a very firm foundation of science. That is one of the reasons cheap wines these days are much, much better than they used to be.

I think your analogy is a good one. The serious hifi designers and builders I know of design, build and test with measurements. They listen too. The poetry here also comes with the marketing and promotion part of the business.

The one segment of hifi I wonder about is cables. It is possible that is all done with subjective judgement.

ASR is a good reference and a useful service. Stereophile has the best approach to reviewing in my opinion. I like the poetry but pure subjectivity without at least an attempt to tie it to verifiable fact is useless to me.

A good friend is an audio junky and also in the retail wine biz. I can attest selling wine is a LOT like selling hifi. There are always customers who think the higher price wine is always the best, and they won't settle for anything less :-)

@bruce19

Well said, I couldn't agree more.

Colour, specific gravity, (residual sugar, salinity), boiling point of wine is like physical aspects of equipment in audio industry Eg size of drivers, cabinet crossover...(specification) 

Instrumental Analysis is of audio equipment ASR is doing in wine analogy using chromatography to list % of ingredients in the wine viz flavinoids, ethy alchohol and byproduct alcohols. Upon this data one can derive how particular wine can taste like.

Audio industry need both Analytical and critical listening.

Not no mention People by Audio equipment only after long listening at their Home.not based on review of any kind.

I really don't understand so much bashing of ASR.  To the best of my knowledge, ASR is unbiased (it does not accept advertising) and provides accurate measurements.  Measurements provide information -- clearly not all the information one might desire, but information that is potentially useful.  Some equipment receives a positive recommendation; other equipment receives a negative recommendation.  Compare this with Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, which are driven by advertising; indeed, it is common for the review of a piece of equipment to appear in the same issue as an advertisement for that equipment.  And I have yet to see a negative review of any equipment.