It is not at all the same. JA interprets the measurements. Doug doesn't.
In stereophile, with the exception of JA’s reviews for obvious reasons, the reviewer does not interpret the measurements.
There’s a very clear difference in roles between what Doug and JA (JA being in charge of doing Stereophile’s measurements).
I would agree with you it would be good to see some interpretation given of the measurements. For instance, if Soundstage had their own “JA” doing that. That’s what I appreciate about your reviews (and Erin).
But then again, as I’ve said, I also appreciate the more detailed subjective impressions as well.
It is a throw away appendix as far as Doug is concerned. Only his sighted listening matters.
No, the measurements matter Doug has said so, explained why, and that’s why they supply measurements.
In other words, measurements have zero value when it comes to reviewing a speaker!
No. If that were the case, then soundstage would have ended up like positive feedback, magazine, and all the other rags that don’t supply measurements. As long as I’ve known him, Doug has gone on about measurements mattering.
You are still taking a black-and-white view.
Doug clearly does not hold the position that measurements have zero value, and that the only thing that matters is the reviewer’s subjective impressions. He’s not putting forth the subjective portion of the reviews as some sort of perfectly accurate delivery from omniscient golden ears. That’s why there are the measurements too. So that the reader, who cares about measurements, can look at the measurements to see how they correspond with the subjective impressions of the reviewer. The reader would undergo the same type of analysis that the reviewer would have undergone: they might see for instance a wiggle in the frequency response that the reviewer did not remark on. The inference could be that the reviewer should’ve heard it but missed describing that character on the speaker. Or the inference could be that the frequency response wiggle was ultimately less obvious in subjective impressions, once the rest of the speakers character was factored in.
Similar to the type of analysis you’ve made for various speakers. You don’t put much emphasis on subjective impressions so you don’t spend a lot of time on that. But there are plenty of audiophiles who do value the subjective impression portion of reviews, and that includes Doug, and that’s why they provide in depth informal subjective impressions as well as measurements when they can.
I’m not ignoring what Doug wrote to you; I’m trying to place it in context of what I’ve seen of Doug’s views and what Doug has expressed in articles over the years. And the type of strict black-and-white “ he’s saying measurements don’t matter” interpretation just doesn’t fly IMO. That’s just one-sided interpretation.