Did you guys also notice the introduction of a rating system for members, with levels and metal colors?
This makes me puke. I am halfway out of here.
This makes me puke. I am halfway out of here.
Just synonyms indeed. Synonyms don't add meaning. With all those synonyms, you still haven't defined the term, it's still a personal preference.
Compare with a term like 'hotter'. If one thing is hotter than another, it is clear that the first has a higher temperature. You can't make a similar comparison with one amp being 'better' than another unless you explain what data point you refer to, like 'lower distortion' or 'smaller size' or whatever.
But here it is always used as 'sounding better' and that is purely personal.
Stop tapdancing.
Jan
Huh? An expectation is be based on some information. Like: 'I expect this power supply to have a lower noise because I used a lower noise regulator'.
Or 'I expect this amp to sound worse because it has such a horribly sculpted front panel'.
Those expectations have nothing to do with preference.
Jan
Video is also struggling with this very topic now that everyone and their dog can afford “super resolution” and machine learning style image processing. Sony and Samsung are both providing things that people like but are not in the original.
As for audio, I am now more than ever convinced that the ADC, DAC, and power amplifier are largely solved problems. Bruno has it right with Kii. The vertically integrated active DSP solution is the future of home audio. I’ve been thinking of tinkering in this area but scarcity of ICs makes it unappealing right now.
I could not agree more. And sadly you're also right that it is an area which is difficult to get into right now due to supply issues.
There's no "rating system for members". There's like and thanks. And it is an experiment for a few days to see what people do with it. (Not sure where you are seeing the metal colours ???)
On the topic of objectivity, all the modern research evidence shows that humans cannot be strictly objective. For one thing their view of reality is heavily distorted by their senses, and by their cognitive biases and mental heuristics. Then there is dysrationalia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysrationalia
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You aptly described the problem with your favoured subjective sighted listening tests.
Do I favor them or find them useful and convenient in between blind tests? ...Sometimes I even measure too! 🙂
Dying to see any relevant audio measurements from your lab.
If AllenB's remark is correct, we won't be seeing zinc lead tin gold for another three weeks:
Probably these...
You favor them. That is your go-to method of listening comparison which in turn gets reported by you as sound quality claim.
Hi Jan, Yeah, alright, that attempt didn't work. I'll try again. What I'm interested in here is the chaffing between those who insist they're being objective and those who feel their stated direct experience is being dismissed as subjective and therefore invalid. We've seen the argument year after year in thread after thread. It's a tired old play and yet people keep coming back to it because it is never gets resolved to anyone's satisfaction.
IN this case, the OP's original post as I take it, is probing the validity of personal perception over some externally validated system of judgement. It reads like a self check. "Does the new site suck or is it just me?" The sort of "Am I nuts or is it really like - - - - - - -?" question that we all ask ourselves every so often . This is good.
My computer software runs in hardware, they are both interactive. On startup it runs a self check of both before allowing me to get into the picture. Same thing with my digital oscilloscope. And we people are running mental software within physical hardware , the two also being mutually interactive , and yet whether or not we take any time to cognize that our sense of objectivity is running within a very personal framework is usually ignored.
If the argument is ever going to reach any worthwhile ground all sides first have to agree on precise definitions of "subjective" and "objective" and then only probe the apparent barrier that separates them. Unless that's done, the whole dialogue is like trying to diagnose amplifier sound output without ever looking at the circuitry.
What do you think?
At the most basic level it comes down to this. If I measure a 5V supply on my DMM, and I ship that power supply to you, you will also measure 5V (within the accuracy limits).
There is an objective value of 5V as the output of that supply.
It would not make sense to say, well, I feel it's really 4V, my opinion and I am entitled to that. I mean, you can say it, but nobody would take it seriously.
Now an opposite situation. Someone changes a coupling cap in his amp for a $ 600 Duelund golden-foil-in-oil, and reports that now his amp sounds the best he ever heard.
Suppose he ships his amp to you. Are you absolutely sure that at your place it also sounds the best you ever heard? It's possible, then again, maybe not.
Anyone familiar with perception and how it works knows this* . So this is a personal objective opinion of the modder, and that's fine, wish him much enjoyment.
Where the sh*t hits the fan is when that person gets mad if someone suggest that it's his personal opinion and starts to insist that anybody who has a different opinion must be either deaf, a meter-reader or stark raving mad.
And so it goes. It is futile to think the two value systems can somehow be reconciled. The best you can hope for is mutual understanding and acceptance.
*Another mystery for me is that audio people who depend 100% on their perception apparatus for enjoyment of the fruits of their labor more often than not have no idea how it works and aren't interested in knowing either.
Jan
There is an objective value of 5V as the output of that supply.
It would not make sense to say, well, I feel it's really 4V, my opinion and I am entitled to that. I mean, you can say it, but nobody would take it seriously.
Now an opposite situation. Someone changes a coupling cap in his amp for a $ 600 Duelund golden-foil-in-oil, and reports that now his amp sounds the best he ever heard.
Suppose he ships his amp to you. Are you absolutely sure that at your place it also sounds the best you ever heard? It's possible, then again, maybe not.
Anyone familiar with perception and how it works knows this* . So this is a personal objective opinion of the modder, and that's fine, wish him much enjoyment.
Where the sh*t hits the fan is when that person gets mad if someone suggest that it's his personal opinion and starts to insist that anybody who has a different opinion must be either deaf, a meter-reader or stark raving mad.
And so it goes. It is futile to think the two value systems can somehow be reconciled. The best you can hope for is mutual understanding and acceptance.
*Another mystery for me is that audio people who depend 100% on their perception apparatus for enjoyment of the fruits of their labor more often than not have no idea how it works and aren't interested in knowing either.
Jan
So there, you see? We're in perfect agreement. : )
. . . . . . Well, maybe I'd like to add that the bias is to be found on both sides of the line. Reaching one's objective is not de facto proof of one's general objectivity.
Just for the clarity sake, can you please quote some posts of those two sides? Thanks in advance.