[Roscoeiii]

it looks bad out of context, but Tyll was only using the train to accelerate "Putt" up to 88mph.

Comment of the Day.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Another doozy of a post, in conjunction with Vinnie Rossi (who often has great posts over at Audio Circle). Brace yourselves: measurements aren't everything!

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/measuring-emotional-connections-music

This is simultaneously a no-brainer, and overlooks the many useful ways that measurements can be used in Headphone Land. For example, output impedance of an amp can be crucial for certain headphones (looking at you here Andromeda). And measurements are probably more crucial for transducers themselves. Just look at the excellent discussions of measurements and their audible effects that occurs along the way on flickenick's IEM thread (for example, the comparison of a 5k peak and an 8k peak on the Atlas and Vega: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fli...udio-discussion.826876/page-707#post-14297577). I'm coming to feel that measurements are in fact more important for headphones than for speakers. It is meaningful to know that a headphone frequency response measures similarly to an HD 650 or a HD800. Just as it is important to know that an OTL amp plays better with some types of headphones than others (otherwise you end up like this guy who purchased a Dark Voice to pair with his planars: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/whats-a-good-amp-for-planar-headphones.850008/)

We are so overwhelmed by choices, and synergy between components can be so crucial, that measurements (and reviews, which are often putting into words the audible effects of how gear measures) become important factors in narrowing down our choices to a manageable number. Would I recommend buying based on measurements alone? No. Would I recommend learning enough and paying attention enough to measurements to help you make purchasing decisions or narrow down your options? You betcha. Can measurements capture everything? No, but they can tell you a lot if you know how to interpret them.

It is hardly a revelation for the headphone community that no one sound signature is going to be ideal for everyone. Unlike the speaker world, there seem to be fewer in Headphone Land searching for the "perfectly measuring" headphone. It is pretty well accepted that for many, a bit of a lift north of totally neutral in the bass is preferred, and that people can vary widely in their treble preferences. One of the great things about Tyll's reviews was that he was very forthright about what he did and did not like in a headphone's treble, even having other reviewers with different tastes in treble review headphones that he knew didn't fit his preferences.

So what is the use of statements like these:

"measurements never really meant a lot to me from a listening standpoint." [Does this reflect a lack of understanding of measurements? Particularly in the headphone world where he has little experience?]

"But, digging deeper into the numbers on an amp, or DAC, or set of headphones, what exactly are the measurements going to tell us?" [Off the top of my head: whether an amp will have too high a noise floor for sensitive headphones, whether an amp can adequately drive demanding headphones, whether an amp's output impedance is a good fit for a pair of headphones, whether a headphone's sound signature is going to align with a listener's preferences, how an unfamiliar headphone might compare to a headphone that is a known quantity]

"Will they tell us if we will love the sound that the measured item is capable of producing?" [It'll certainly impact the odds of liking or disliking a component, which is the best we can hope for from measurements (or a review).No doubt that only listening (with appropriately matched gear) will tell us if we love the sound. And how do we tell if we are listening with appropriately matched gear? Look at the measurements!]

Another disappointing, fairly empty post. Alas.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Looks like comments have already been disabled on this most recent post as well. A mere 24 hours after it was posted.

Or maybe Rafe has decided to block me and/or anyone critical of him from commenting on his posts. Let me know if y'all are seeing the option to comment on his posts over on Inner Fidelity. But be careful what you say...

 

[Roscoeiii]

And as for his self-description as "As someone who has written hundreds of reviews", much of what he describes as reviews, I would not consider proper reviews.

Of the 391 posts on Part Time Audiophile, I counted only 20 total proper reviews, and I may have been a bit generous (including "initial impressions" and at least one listening session that was conducted at an audio store's showroom). And a Google search of "Rafe Arnott reviews" suggests that Part Time Audiophile is where he has done the vast majority of his audio writing.

The majority of the content that is not press releases written at PTA? Show coverage. While often interesting and a great way to learn about new gear, I don't think most audiophiles would consider such coverage to be actual reviews. For a number of reasons, the biggies being: gear is set up in far from ideal conditions (hotel rooms), lack of familiarity with associated gear (thus not being able to tell what each component is contributing to the sound), and lack of significant listening time.

But for Rafe, reviews appear to be a whole lot more than listening in a familiar environment (hopefully fine tuned for the best possible sound), with familiar gear (hopefully the ability to swap out gear to find the best synergy for the gear being reviewed and to better establish what gear is contributing what to the overall sound).

His broader definition of reviews, which catapults his "reviews" into the hundreds is "based on listening sessions conducted in my home, in bricks-and-mortar shops, in manufacturers demo rooms, and in more hotel rooms at trade shows than I could possibly count".

Heck flickenick did about as many proper reviews (17) as Rafe has done since starting at PTA in 2015 in his just his 2017 Flagship IEM Shootout (http://theheadphonelist.com/ranking-the-stars-flinkenicks-2017-iem-flagship-shootout/l and related Headfi thread from which Rafe could learn a lot about IEM measurements: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fli...al-high-end-portable-audio-discussion.826876/ )

 

[JayG]

I don't have the strength at the moment to get into a discussion of Rafe's most recent display of ineptitude, but in regard to the comment function, I think what he's done is to ban me (and roscoe and I'm sure others) from commenting on posts made with his byline. I don't have an option to reply to any of his posts all the way back to the first one, but I can still comment on Keith Howard's posts and Tyll's old posts. Would be good to get confirmation whether someone who hasn't been at all critical of him yet is still able to comment. What's odd, though, is that he's left some of the critical comments on this most recent post, albeit with his childish, vapid responses to each. (I wonder if, a year from now, he'll still be responding to every critical comment with "Yeah, but that's just, like, your opinion, man.")

What a coward.

 

[castleofargh]

I couldn't help but be a real jerk when replying to the last article. which is not good and why I'll never be a respectable public figure for anything. temper, temper. I just can't stand those black and white fake debates about measuring or listening. maybe I've been an outlaw all my life without knowing, because I measure stuff and also listen casually. apparently that's not supposed to happen. ^_^

also there is the obvious(for me) issue of who we're talking about. as an individual with a headphone in my hands, of course I'll have more to say about how I feel and how I like the headphone after listening to it. and not so much after looking at a FR graph. but if I'm in such a situation, I 100% do not care to read a review about that headphone. I'm a big boy, I can tell if I enjoyed a headphone after using it myself. yes I care about emotions, my own.
of course when I see reviewers arguing about measurements, I see a very different situation. a situation where I do no have the opportunity to listen to the headphone without buying it. and that changes everything in the fake measurement vs listening argument:
-if I see measurements, I can try to correlate a thing or 2 with my previous experiences. if I've seen a series of similar measurements and came to trust the method and the guy doing them, I'll have relevant information to try and interpret. maybe I'll see something I know I don't like based on previous experiences like more 4khz than on a headphone where it was already driving me crazy? of course that's important to me as a consumer curious about new gears. because I can avoid spending money on stuff I'm pretty sure I will not like.
-if I read a subjective review I'll also get a few things to help make up my mind about getting the gear, how they feel about the cable, if the pads seem spacious and comfy... but all the emotion stuff will not mean much to me. because different people have different taste. and of course, because reviewers for the most part will suck up to the product in their subjective feedback.
that's a pretty massive shift in perspective compared to the Walt Disney story presented in the article. to "just listen", I say, "ok send me your pair free of charge". to "measurements don't tell the whole story", I say "of course they don't, and so doesn't your subjective review. what the hell are you even trying to say?". that's when I get mad and write stupid posts I will regret later.


in the end it's probably easier to find somebody who likes eating the foam in ear pads, than finding a guy who when offered to listen to a headphone will go, "no thank you, I'd rather wait to see the measurements because that how I enjoy music". so what's with that weird desperate need to defend the act of listening to a headphone against the evil incomplete measurement? the headphone was built for the sole purpose of listening to it, nobody ever argued against that use. those typical fake debates blow my mind.
but at least now I got my answer, Rafe will do his thing and I won't like. so I'll just refrain from reading his posts while waiting for the others to hopefully offer content I'm interested in. and life goes on.

 

[episiarch]

FWIW speaking as someone not familiar with Rafe's other writings, my perspective is that so far all I've really seen are a couple of lame articles in a row, after a sudden editorial shift that sounds like it was not entirely expected and a little bit of a hurried scramble. So I'm trying not to rush to judgement, even though the new leadership has yet to make a fan of me. I think it's at least possible they just haven't quite found their footing on this site and with its old audience yet.

I agree that the comment-banning is troubling, though. (If IF has an actual comment-moderation policy that explains what's acceptable and what's not, it's certainly not prominently featured. At least, I failed to find it.)

 

[Argyris]

I'll reserve my complete judgment for once an actual review and/or measurement piece goes up, but what I've seen so far is not encouraging. The recent puff pieces I was willing to let slide, since it's obvious the new management were caught flat footed by Tyll's departure, so it's reasonable to think they might need some time to get the new routine worked out. Maybe I just want to believe that, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

However, the situation with the comments is very concerning, as is all the flowery talk of a "new direction". Granted, the comments ever since Tyll left have often been pointed (a charitable way of putting it, perhaps). But the sentiment has been pretty clear, and I think most people were being civil when they voiced their genuine concerns over whether what they loved about IF will be lost in the transition. At first, there was silence. Then there were a few responses, basically saying "I'm not Tyll." And now, evidently, comments are being deleted and/or moderated, and entire comment sections are being closed. This smacks of an unwillingness to understand and listen to one's audience and a thin skin, neither of which is a good look for a fledgling tenure.

To be fair, a number of people were making negative predictions even before Rafe made his first post. That has to sting. But those predictions were based off his posting history elsewhere, and nothing in the most recent IF posts (barring the ones from Keith Howard, who seems to know his shizz) has allayed any of those concerns, nor given any concrete indication what to expect in reviews going forward. In the lack of such details, speculation reigns supreme. If people are saying they're worried that the site will become a haven for fluff, posting two fluff pieces right in a row is not a good way to convince them otherwise.

I also think a fundamental point is being missed by the communication from the powers that be. Of course nobody can completely fill Tyll's shoes. He was one of a kind. But it's not unreasonable to think that somebody could pick up the threads of what he was doing and continue where he left off. He's left a massive body of posts that give a detailed account of his approach of correlating objective measurements with what we actually hear. That's what made IF special; it's not just Tyll himself, but this unique approach, that kept us all coming back for more. Hell, I often read articles about stuff I knew I wasn't interested in, simply because even if I would never buy or hear the product, I still learned something of general use from reading Tyll's breakdown (especially the last page with the measurements). Surely, if they were so inclined, they could have found somebody—perhaps from the IF readership itself—who would have been willing to take a stab at continuing in this vein.

My only thought, and it's a cynical one as is my wont, is that the new management isn't overly concerned if the traditional readership of IF dissipates. To be sure, we're a devoted but small lot, and we're not the kind who are easily swayed by emotional fluff and shiny press releases. Perhaps management believes that we will be replaced by a larger and more sponsor-friendly audience.

Like I said, this could just be my natural cynicism and pessimism coming through. But I've seen this kind of thing happen elsewhere, and what's happening at IF is worryingly similar.

 

[Roscoeiii]

My only thought, and it's a cynical one as is my wont, is that the new management isn't overly concerned if the traditional readership of IF dissipates. To be sure, we're a devoted but small lot, and we're not the kind who are easily swayed by emotional fluff and shiny press releases. Perhaps management believes that we will be replaced by a larger and more sponsor-friendly audience.

Like I said, this could just be my natural cynicism and pessimism coming through. But I've seen this kind of thing happen elsewhere, and what's happening at IF is worryingly similar.

I suspect the same. Rafe's made a few comments to this effect. Both in his posts and in response to comments.

There seems to be a willingness to to ignore the passionate core of headphone enthusiasts. In favor of....? Still not clear on what that vision is.

And as others have mentioned, perhaps most concerning is the unwillingness to take feedback and criticism. Rather than facilitating a constructive back and forth, he'd rather cut people out of the discussion.

Also, if the Hall of Fame collection hasn't shown up, what kind of shipping company is being used? I've gotten things shipped by boat from Asia faster.

 

[roskodan]

From what i can tell, the person in question doesn't have a wide and deep enough understanding of what is it that he is dealing with.

His effort to impose himself to the original innerfidelity audience, which is clearly never gonna be his audience, is just immature and childish.

Which is evident by his censoring of everything that he doesn't understand. Sad.

 

[Redcarmoose]

It’s too early to tell. Tyll has pretty big shoes to fill for anyone. Even if most tried they would still receive an immediate crucial evaluation, like what has happened here so far. So what?

And in typical business savvy any judgmental criticism was deleted from his first write-up. Who really gives a crap about that software? Maybe it’s good for a segment of listeners that are into EQ, the rest would never believe in such treatments, as they think headphones do not respond correctly to EQ.

But much of this hobby is intertwined with sales. Everyone is a salesman. The politicians are salesman, your 7 year old nephew is a salesman. Actors on TV and in movies are salesman. What we need is a manager who needs time to draw in folks that have a passion for our hobby. But it takes time.

Obviously Tyll has a heart for headphones, and most of us who went along with him could feel this honest heart for the hobby. Still look at Stereophile, or try reading 30 years of stereo magazines. It’s about 50% or more sales talk. Of course that sales Kool-aid is slicked up with the terms audiophiles relate with. But to me most of Stereophile and the other audiophile print is pretty much sales BS. So for me there is nothing new here, except someone with a true heart for this hobby was now replaced with what you should expect to see........and read.


Now just give him a chance for maybe getting people under his wing with a passion for headphones. There is nothing wrong with a manager being like him........pretty much all managers are like him.

 

[rgs9200m]

Can you imagine John Atkinson writing:
"But, digging deeper into the numbers on an amp, or DAC, or set of headphones, what exactly are the measurements going to tell us?"

 

[Roscoeiii]

Can you imagine John Atkinson writing:
"But, digging deeper into the numbers on an amp, or DAC, or set of headphones, what exactly are the measurements going to tell us?"

Yes, I'd be interested in Atkinson's thoughts.

And just today I was thinking how helpful and educational a discussion of measurements was in the below discussion of the Comet's freq response in Headphonics' review:

There is a sub to mid-bass emphasis from the vented full-range driver that is impressive for a single BA, a slightly dipped mid-range up to around 2k then a fairly large jump around 3-4k and once again around 7-10k though fairly controlled before falling away.There is a small dip in the lower treble right around 7k which takes away any potential harshness without loss of too much air.

I've both learned something and have some very useful information that will be of much help in making a purchasing decision.

 

[Icenine2]

All a shame with what has become of InnerFidelity thus far. It seems like they made a rush move to put in Rafe. A temporary solution would have been Herb Reichert or even John Atkinson until a Tyll replacement was discovered. Lots of choices of qualified persona. I must have looked over Rafe's listening systems twenty times thinking I missed a headphone rig............

 

[Redcarmoose]

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/i-recently-emailed-john-atkinson-of-stereophile


I remember how virtually every review in Absoulute Sound or Stereophile had a nice advertisement of a reviewed product directly after the product review. Why........was it simply coincidence? How could an 8th grader not see the print before the advertising was not some kind of audiophile sales. So let’s get this straight, the manufacturer pays for the ad which promotes the magazine and donates a review sample to the writer which is under employment from the magazine. Of course any negatives are secondary to anything.


But because of the gear whores we are we eat it up. Nothing new here.


And it has never changed.


“
Stereophile is a waste of raw material. What you're seeing is grade inflation. That's how they managed to find products that were better than class A.
I went to a gas station recently that didn't sell "regular" gas. The choices wereremium, Extra Premium and Ultra Premium. Grade inflation.
Stereo Pile is now, and has been for more than a decade, about nothing but advertising sales. The actual product is about nothing but justifying the price of that advertising.
My recommendation is that we all stop helping them pad their readership figures by forgetting that Stereophile exists. After all, it doesn't really exist for you. As a consensus measure it has repeatedly shown itself to be off the mark, falling far short of Audiogon Forums in that regard.”