Shifting a conversation here so it doesn't get deleted by mods for being off-topic.
This is the last thing I am going to say.
I have not seen a single person on this page that likes the Solaris, go off to a competing iem's thread , and harass the people there for their preferences.
Not one.
Jealousy is not a good look. At the end of the day this hobby is about music, not competing gear. There is no best...
And lists and rankings are completely utterly ridiculous useless.
I’ve avoided this thread for very obvious reasons but I’m getting a bit bothered now. You could’ve very clearly reiterated your (very valid) points without throwing this BS line into the mix.
If you have a problem with me, say it to my face. Let’s have a proper discussion and hash things out. You constantly throwing shade and insults to my direction without me even being in the picture, is infuriating and disrespectful for literally no reason other than the fact that you disagree with me.
I like chocolate, you like vanilla. What are you ranking?
Context above.
I've said it before many times in that I attempt to rank according to technical ability, individual signature and flavour notwithstanding. To answer the next question on what exactly is "technical ability",
I did a rather lengthy write-up here that I hope you would take the time to read.
To go further with the flavour analogy (that I've actually addressed years ago,
please see Disclaimer point no. 1), let's pretend that we're talking about ice cream in this instance. In many regards I would agree with you; flavour preference is the strongest in any hobby and just because something is "technically good" doesn't mean that it will be enjoyable to everybody. But let's disregard different flavours for now; if you like chocolate ice-cream, you cannot deny that there are various different "levels" of chocolate ice-cream. You can get the cheap stuff, straight out of the supermarket freezer and costs a buck per litre. Or you can go to an artisanal creamery and have a single scoop of chocolate ice-cream that costs a fiver but was hand made over three days with high quality ingredients.
From there we can go into detail on why the same flavour of ice cream can differ in quality; the cheap stuff might not even be using actual diary, ice crystal formation ruining texture, quality of cocoa bean used, overall temperature regulation over the freezing and churning process, all that jazz. Now, OF COURSE someone would still prefer the cheaper, objectively "lower quality" ice cream for a multitude of reasons; perhaps it's the nostalgia factor, perhaps the expensive stuff is too rich, perhaps the expensive stuff is simply too expensive, perhaps that person is lactose intolerant and can't stand the heavy cream used in the expensive stuff... for those people, all the power to them. They have saved money and maintained enjoyment in the process and that is something that many would be jealous of.
Now, adding flavour back into the equation. It's still not that complex to take note of; the flavour isn't the one being judged here, rather the level to which the flavour is created. If I ever were to rank ice-cream, ice-cream made with vanilla bean and fresh milk will beat out a tub of dubious chocolate-flavoured diary product, even if I were the world's biggest fan of chocolate.
Switching back to the audio hobby; while there are many different signatures and many people who have esoteric tastes, my opinions are not meant to cater to the outliers. Actually on that note, they aren't meant to cater to
anybody except myself. To reiterate, I have been rather open on how I listen to audio (again, the "technical ability" post highlights nearly everything about that) and I don't expect everybody to follow the same processes that I have, but I have decided to publicly post about my journey through online and neither you nor anyone else will stop me from that endeavour.
I usually don't do analogies to this level of elaboration, but I think this warrants it given your level of unreasoned hatred towards me. There is a certain level of dissociation that I can achieve given my time and experience within the hobby, and well I am
far from perfect (or should I say, flawless), I would say that I'm at least doing an okay job in my separation of personal taste. As for the people/fans who take my words as gospel or uses them as purchase justification,
I don't care and neither should anybody else. I have said it time and time again, my list has been written as a general guide for the interested rather than as a compendium of full-fledged impressions and reviews. Everyone else who deviates from that purpose can suck it.
If you, Mr.
@Kitechaser, are still unwilling to see my side of the story
that I didn't even make in the first place, then at very least I can say that I've made an attempt to clarify myself.