How do you judge your equipment?

[Brett]

My end jugdement are based solely on my ears
I don't care what other thinks....
I have to listen to it every day, enjoy my favorite music on it etc. !!

Agreed, but the way I try to phrase it these days is, I optimise the compromises for my preferences. As an example, I greatly prefer horn speakers. Now I know the theoretical limitations of the genre but to me they sound cleaner, more real and more involving and 'alive'. My educated guess based on a lot of measuring and trying to corroborate that with what I hear is that the lower distortion (THD, IMD, FMD) is more preferable to me. A slightly, and it's not much, flatter FR of say a Sonus Faber I heard recently, and the better time domain of electrostats don't compensate for me for these speakers (and similar types) deficiencies.
I like what I like, and I couldn't really give a stuff if anyone else does.
Everything is subjective. There is no absolute sound. Get over it, shut up, and listen.

It's true that things that measure well can sound bad. It's also true that something that sounds bad can sometimes be measured. I don't believe it is possible to create something on listening tests alone. In creating an amplifier, I will listen to it. If it doesn't sound right in some way, further investigation will reveal the cause. I've done this many times with my own designs and those of others.

Finally, good design practice is important. When you turn the power switch on you must be assured of getting music, not smoke. Many commercial products fall short here too.

Finally, "golden ears" have proved to be faulty many times. If you read the mags, it's "the product of the month". Give me a break, there are several products that have stood the test of time and got bad reviews. What I have seen is that the better a piece of gear is, the more people like the sound of it. The other thing that's true is that two amplifiers with very similar specs can sound vastly different. Cheap, light stuff will not sound as good as properly designed and built stuff.

Yes to all the above, as an addition to what I said earlier.

In general, Audio Critic is correct. There's a lot of voodoo. But there's also a difference between "measured" and "measurable." Speakers can be measured very comprehensively, but correlating these to the listener experience is very uncertain. Power amps differ in overload recovery and stability- these are measurable, but easier to judge by ear. And so on and so on.

There is a lot of voodoo, that's so true and it unfortunately drags a lot of people in. But it's no excuse for using hyperbole of the extreme foolishness to deride everyone else's experience.

 

[kvholio]

If it sounds good and measures bad you are measuring the wrong parameter

with kind regards,

Klaas

 

[lumanauw]

I think all people (with descent hearing system, not malfunctioned) can be called "golden ears". They all can hear in A/B/A test which system/equipment is better. They can hear which is better but not all can "say" in what part a certain thing is better.
I think the currently called "golden ears" should be changed to "golden mouth" (no bad intention here ) because they can state what is the better/worse part, while the "non-golden ears" could recognize it, but cannot describe it in words.