The Unmeasurable Aspects of High-End Audio – PS Audio

Perhaps I'm quibbling, or perhaps what I'm about to say will resonate with a lot of readers.

I wouldn't say that things are unmeasurable. I'd just say that we haven't developed a method to measure many of the things that make a system great.

Furthermore, it is a common error to conclude or at least assume that the common parameters that are measured, reported, and published are indeed the proper things to measure to draw a conclusion on the sound quality of a system.

Now I'm not saying measurements are useless, you just have to use them for what they are intended.  For example, you need to know the sensitivity of a speaker measured in dB/w-m to judge how many watts you amplification you'll need to drive it.

Jerry

Stating the obvious.  Good design matters. Noise and distortion is bad.  But there will always be different strokes for different folks.  

@carlsbad2 

I agree with your first sentence, you are quibbling.  I saw the video yesterday and I felt that he perfectly nailed my sentiment, which is that we haven’t discovered all of the factors that go into appreciating reproduction of music, and that we can’t measure variables that haven’t been discovered.

  Of course, one could cynically note that PSA has released this video after being  publicly criticized in the audiophile press for releasing a very expensive component that measured poorly 

@mahler123 Indeed there are some idiots that I declined to name that post a lot of absolute BS about equipment, especially high end equipment, based on their measurements of things that don't matter.  I hope PSA crushes them.

Jerr

Way back when, several golden ear writers finally agreed to a blind test. I forget which magazine, I read several in those days.

All SS, high end brands, New equipment, all broken in:

none of them could reliably/repeatedly choose anything better than the Pioneer Receiver slipped into the mix that was selected by them as inconsistently as any other.

Tubes: a whole different world, now we get to 'preferred' not better'

We should give this unknown "ether" a name like Dark Energy. No one knows what it is, but they mostly agree that something is there.

I agree with koestner.

One thing for sure is no one has an identical system, or identical listening environment.  Not identical media.  This alone makes the hobby so unique to each individual!!

You’re never going to get anything better than it was mastered at. Personally I think it’s hilarious what audiophiles will spend on something that does nothing extra at all.

<edit> I don’t mean to sound like a troll here, I’ve just seen a lot of crap devices over the years that do nothing but cost an arm a leg and a few pieces of genitalia. </edit>

<edit2>  This type of data would be really useful for anyone that enjoys music, even those of us with moderate means.  </edit2>

Q.  You are correct.  We are at the end of the day still humans and do get taken to the cleaners so to speak

  The important thing is to learn from mistakes and then pass that tribal knowledge onward...

Measure of any kind, as electrical,mechanical or acoustical measures, is inscribed in a measurement spiralling circle where the ears/brain also is inscribed  in the measuring process itself as the ultimate ruler  . Then measuring is an indefinite improving interpretative process.

For example if we add the crosstalk concept for a better  description of all  stereo system effect , we then may  infer why  all stereo system fail to convey all the acoustic information there is to convey from the recording process. Then to restore what is lost in all stereo system we must introduce other set of measures  to compensate for any stereo system crosstalk  main defect. Said Prof. Choueiri.

And so goes the progress wheel...

«Seeing her coming to me  i sang Om, but she begun to  spoke about Ohms and we departed»- Groucho Marx 🤓