[CanadianMaestro]

Science used to be the exclusive domain of the rich, in the 19th century, for pure curiosity and intellectual pleasure. Now, it has become much of a rat race for grant money, rather than being pursued for fun and for altruistic motives.

There are no guarantees in life. We live, learn, and adapt.

Fortunately, most peer-reviewed grant committees and journals can recognize creativity and not reward those who spend time trying to reinvent the wheel. I very strongly advocate this proactive, procreative approach.

And yes, I am an elitist. In a benevolent way.

 

[RRod]

  with some nifty little microphones inside your ears you can get a response that accounts for both the source of the sound and the shape of your ears/body(depending is it's from speakers or headphones). that way you can get something not perfect but relatively close to neutral at your eardrum. then will your eardrum and everything inside your head find neutral to sound neutral? I have no idea. but given how we work and adapt in real life, I suspect that result to be the closest to actual neutral for people.
that's how the smyth realiser measures stuff in whatever room or whatever headphone so that you can recreate another room. the purpose isn't the same but the way to do it is. and that way you get all changes, not just FR.
 

 
You need to be able to compensate for the mic response as well if you want to make absolute measurements. Relative measurements—like comparing the ear-canal response of two headphones—would be easier to make, since the mic is a common factor. So it would be perfectly possible for headphones reviewers to confirm their subjective comparison of multiple cans by doing a bit of in-ear measurement. Getting the measurements done correctly is an issue itself, though headphones should be easier to handle than speakers in that regard.

 

[DooberKnob]

  Funny thing is...all the amps and DACs I've used did sound the same.

If you spend some time on professional audio forums you will see no one really gives a crap about DACs and amplification is only important to the extent that you have ample headroom and low distortion.
 
Saying a certain dac/amp combo gives you liquid mids or a lush sound will get you laughed at. Anyone who spends $1000 on a dac automatically goes on the reviews I don't trust list.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  If you spend some time on professional audio forums you will see no one really gives a crap about DACs and amplification is only important to the extent that you have ample headroom and low distortion.
 
Saying a certain dac/amp combo gives you liquid mids or a lush sound will get you laughed at. Anyone who spends $1000 on a dac automatically goes on the reviews I don't trust list.

 
I thought this comparison of a few high-end DACs was interesting:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668

 

[danmlr]

   
I thought this comparison of a few high-end DACs was interesting:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668

There's a list of models available for the plus: 2.5 TRRS, 3.5 balanced, in addition to a standard edition and plus pack. What's the difference? Which should I order?

 

[clear]

Reviews on sites like Amazon are usually fake but going to a forum (such as this one) looking for legit reviews on specific products is usually pretty accurate.