Looks like, these days. ASR has developed a lot of group think over time which hardened up the red lines and made the group decision what's beyond one of those red lines and what is not very binary and non-debatable. Crustification at work. <-- strictly IHMO, of course.
ASR is still full of valuable information and of course Amir's review work is outstanding as it creates a data pool for comparisons like we never had before.
I agree, there's a certain part of ASR membership that just jumps into action to defend the perceived red line whenever some newcomer comes and tries to challenge it. I see it more as an ASR self-defense mechanism than anything more sinister. There's too much groupthink on the outside of ASR, where nothing is ever challenged, and any challenge is automatically dismissed "because your system isn't resolving enough or you are deaf".
The opposite of what happens on ASR happens daily on many other fora. The direct outcome of this inability to think critically are products like PGGB, for example (directly applicable to this thread). PGGB is the direct result of lack of critical thinking. The author claims the error of -600dB or better for his reconstruction algorithm. Tell me, Klaus, would you spend $1500 on a software package that off-line converts your entire library to DSD1024 over a period of weeks, requiring a PC that needs hundreds of Gigabytes of memory, 20+ cores CPU, GPU, and tons of storage? Well, there are many that are buying it. In fact, they hear major audible improvements, even compared to the already major audible improvement that were claimed previously by HQPlayer users.
Heck, some actually started running their library through BOTH, PGGB and then through HQPlayer for an even "better" result
In my view, it's the direct outcome of audiophiles not being challenged to think for themselves, believing marketing or the larger groupthink that permeates that world of "everything matters," and that "science can't know everything," and that only their flawed perception can be the judge.
Critical thinking is a skill, and must be learned. I see less and less of it being taught in schools. Unfortunately, an internet forum is not a place to undo the damage caused by the primary education system -- most of us here are not teachers, and it's not our job to re-educate others. I'd much rather see newcomers be challenged to use critical thinking, to spend time investigating and learning, rather than automatically assuming that just because "I heard it" it must be so. But I understand why this is not so after many dozens of new users each week start posting the same exact boring, unsubstantiated ideas and thoughts that have not been subjected to even an ounce of critical thinking.
