2. misc-audio
  3. 182927-125055

Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)

About 25 years ago I was inside a large room with an A-frame ceiling and large skylights, during the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. This one time was like no other, for two reasons: 1) There were large, red, fragmenting streaks multiple times a minute with illuminated smoke trails, and 2) I could hear them.

Yes, each meteor produced a sizzling sound, like the sound of a frying pan.

Amazed, I Googled this phenomena and found that many people reported hearing this same sizzling sound associated with meteors streaking across the sky. In response, scientists and astrophysicists said it was all in our heads. That, it was totally impossible. Why? Because of the distance between the meteor and the observer. Physics does not allow sound to travel fast enough to hear the sound at the same time that the meteor streaks across the sky. Case closed.

ASR would have agreed with this sound reasoning based in elementary science.

Fast forward a few decades. The scientists were wrong. Turns out, the sound was caused by radiation emitted by the meteors, traveling at the speed of light, and interacting with metallic objects near the observer, even if the observer is indoors. Producing a sizzling sound. This was actually recorded audibly by researchers along with the recording of the radiation. You can look this up easily and listen to the recordings.

Takeaway - trust your senses! Science doesn’t always measure the right things, in the right ways, to fully explain what we are sensing. Therefore your sensory input comes first. You can try to figure out the science later.

I’m not trying to start an argument or make people upset. Just sharing an experience that reinforces my personal way of thinking. Others of course are free to trust the science over their senses. I know this bothers some but I really couldn’t be bothered by that. The folks at ASR are smart people too.

nyev

Showing 3 responses by juanmanuelfangioii

juanmanuelfangioii
958 posts
 

@thyname no there is no rule against coming back 16 times. 

 

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juanmanuelfangioii
958 posts
 

I would never believe anything from you sir nor any one else for that matter. 

I do not follow blindly like your cult at ASR. @amir_asr 

 I recently tested three JPS Labs cables.  I listened to all three and they sounded different from my generic cables.  Bad news for fans your camp is that the generic cables sounded better in all these tests.  Thousands of dollars in cabling beat by less than $50 in generic cables.  Are you going to believe this assessment?

juanmanuelfangioii
958 posts
 

@amir_asr you sound like a jackass. my cult is no cult fool.

I let no man lead.

I make my decisions and you are a fool. 

At the risk of sounding obvious, I don't believe your cult either.  The difference between us is that I can live in your universe anytime I like.  You choose to never live in mine.  One of us is more enriched in that manner.

I assume you don't go to a doctor either when you get sick.  That ought to be cult too since your lay intuition doesn't validate what you believe.  You may think you catch a cold from cold weather but they know that it is from a virus.  

Or maybe you tell me that anyone off the street with none of your experience or education in your field, can go toe to toe with you.  And call you a cultist when you disagree with them.

Such was life when humans lived in a primitive state.  They only believed what they could touch and feel.  Many of us have evolved to trust decades of research/science.  But when it comes to audio it seems, deniers walk the earth all the time.

So do what you want.  But please don't talk to me about it.  Remember again, I can act like a subjectivist anytime I choose.  Nothing you tell me is new or unique to you.

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