I have no idea why I keep receiving this kind of messages from people that get it completely wrong. In the last days I have been receiving messages in the threads, as PM, all telling me their experiences with their gadgets, purchases, cables and stuff. This is going to be my last post about this, and I am sorry to say that but you guys are acting emotionally and _not_ getting my point.
1) Measurements and objective analysis are and always should be and will be part of the development and manufaturing process. All those things you have written above are are your perceptions as an end customer, and that is the way it should be. These are two ends of a spectrum.
2) A company needs to have a deterministic process to a) ensure consistancy of the quality of their products b) propagate the lessons learned from earlier products, iterations and even other companies' products to the newer generations c) have a method to analyse and quantify customer input and convert that into facts that can be reused and digestible in that process d) keep an eye on the scientific developments and again create values digestible by that process.
3) This can only be done when there are objective and deterministic standarts are in place, because subjectivity changes person to person. In this particular case, the adherence can only be achieved when the company adapts a deterministic and quantifyable process.
4) A customer (us) does not need to be aware of that knowledgebase, but can also be, so we can choose to move in that spectrum for whatever reason, and learn about the measures, but we can still evaluate with our perception.
5) It is the companies challange to take those perceptions and quantify them as much as possible, so that it is person independent and can be deterministically realised. So that, for example, when the people doing the subjective tests in the company gets old and their hearing deteriorate, the quality can be retained. Of course, there is the "experience" part of it. For example, music producers in years lose part of their hearing but the quality of their should remain - that comes with experience.
6) Of cource, the company should be all over that spectrum. In the end, the customer perception is the evaluation (theoretically, ignoring the influencers like reviewers) that decides on the success of that product.
7) Some of the measures the companies use are standarts that are derived from research and other industry standarts, like the freqeuncy graphs, distorion graphs, impulse response etc. These will be common measures between the company and outside. Influencers (HeadFi) may refer to these, too. That is why Jude has this expensive measurement station. Customers may learn to read and evaluate these or just stay with their perception. It is their choice. But the important point here is that, they may not give you the whole picture but tell very important things about it. The customer may choose to ignore that, but that is rather a choice that cannot influence the facts.
8) Why do the customers might refer to objectivity? a) For the influencers, reviewers; it is important to refer to the objective facts as firstly they can check if the company did its homework, like distortion, resonances etc., and inform the customers that are interested b) Provide a preliminary evaluation data to people that are interested it, but not able to access a test unit - and believe it or not this is the majority of the people. Then your question: "So again - Why bother yourself with all that When you can just listen to the headphones and hear if you actually like them or not? - Without missing any aspect of the sound?" Do you know what percentage of people can really do that? Just because you and a few lucky people can do it, do you think it is really possible for everybody? Some people may not even be able to return it, as they may not even have it in their country. So should they just stop asking for objective data? Especially when there are so many differences in music, recordings and even perceptions of people etc. etc, can you please understand that objective data is most of the time only common reference point?
9) Now comes the tricky part: Why do people assume that they are being forced or attacked when someone asks about objective evaluations? As soon as I mention the measurements, I receive multiple messages to cut the crap and just listen. Why is that? I didn't say what you are doing is wrong, I just mentioned or asked a question about what for me is right. Why is everyone so jumpy when they hear the word measurements? I don't get it really. What is wrong when someone says s/he trusts objective data? I am not telling you not to listen and trust your ears, I am asking a question referring to the fact that I value objective data? Why do people feel attacked when they hear that? Unlike you, I don't devalue subjectivity, but also value objectivity. Two different things!
You go and listen and evaluate. It is your business, I don't care. I know examples of HPs that some are crazy about and say it is the best, then I look at the graph and it has a -6db hole in the low mids that suffocates the vocals. Those people continue to tell wonders about that headphone, but that fault is very audible and sound is very off. But nearly noone talks about it, which is very audible. then you understand that none of those people listen to vocals, are mostly bass and treble heads, and bingo! You just imported a nearly $4K total cost of a headphone, when you send it back your import costs are dead and plus you have to pay again for the shipment and restocking fees. Just as an example.
I don't believe in many of the told stories here, that is my thing. You might believe them, and that is yours. I don't care about yours. So please stop telling me what I should do. I, again, don't care about yours. When I ask about objectivity, it is about me, not you. So stop taking things personally. It is, as you said, just stupid to make useless suggestions to someone that didn't ask for it. Save it to yourself.
I am out of this topic. Anyone that sends me PMs, or messages will be ignored using the ignore list, so you will not get any response from me. If you feel uncomfortable, feel free to ignore me.
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