Better Sounding Systems, Objectivists or Subjectivists?


When these two camps retire to their listening rooms, which school of thought tends to get better sound? Those who ultimately place their faith in measurements above actually listening to their systems? Or those of us who look at measurements, but ultimately make our decisions based on what subjectively sounds best to us?

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When these two camps retire to their listening rooms, which school of thought tends to get better sound?

That's the wrong question because they are likely to define "better" differently.  The real question is "Which school of thought tends to be happier with their sound?"    

How does the music make you feel and is it inline with how you wanted to feel at the time? Rather than listening for being able to hear this breath or that cymbal hit, how does it feel when you listen? That will tell you what sounds best. If it measures well and you feel good listening to it, doesn't make you tense (unless excitement all the time is what you're looking for) and you can listen for long periods without wanting to turn it off, you've got the best of both worlds.  Because of how mental this hobby is, one day something can sound great and the next day, just good. It's why auditioning equipment shouldn't be swapping stuff out quickly. Listen for a while, then listen the other way for a while.  Which one made you feel better? No difference? Buy the cheaper or better looking or more expensive or whatever your additional criteria is besides sound.

@kr4 indeed, who likely listens to their systems more? Those of us who listen to our systems when making component purchases and set up decisions, or those who look at numbers and graphs? Put another way, do those of us who trust our ears listen to our systems more than people who do not trust their hearing to reliably choose ‘better sound’? And if you can’t trust your ears to arrive at better sound, how do you know if you have better sound in the first place? It seems to me people who don’t trust their ears, who have a fanatical opposition to those of us who do, are probably in the wrong hobby which at the end of the day, is all about enjoying our systems which is of course, totally subjective.