ASR Long-Term Plans

[DonH56]

There are test tones you can download or play from the Internet to help figure out what frequency(ies) you are hearing. Also charts of piano keys with frequencies and online players if you have no piano at home. Either way will allow you to get a better feel for the frequencies you hear. Does not obviate the need for measurements but can help narrow down problem areas.

 

[MZKM]

Yes, Oratory is the only one I know of that has this professional equipment whilst providing the measurements & EQ publically. He also knows what he's doing on the EQ front too, although I feel that this skill is not just tied to one person....I've learned loads re EQ with my experimentations with my speakers & headphones and I only started 6 months ago, so I'm sure there's people out there with the same skills as Oratory from an EQ perspective. You can learn a lot from messing with REW! I might be being presumptive, but it's my intuition on it.

A large issue with headphones that occur with speakers is comfort. From a measurement standpoint, Rtings has this all down pat, they just need to refine their score calculations. They measure weight, clamping force, and head unit temperature, all important aspects on whether I would ever own a pair of over-backs.

 

[pozz]

I want to know which manufacturers are actually practicing good engineering and can justify their prices, and which ones are the “PS Audio” that charge wildly inflated prices for objectively bad engineering. Are there a set of measurements that can prove this one way or the other?

This is established by measuring lots of products from lots of manufacturers. Then you get a sense of what you can get for your dollar. But no direct measurements, no.

 

[JeffS7444]

Headphones are weird. How do you measure them? Like speakers? The sound is going to vary significantly with small differences in location and ear shape. A room shaped like an ear.

There's the hobbyist-grade measurement jig from MiniDSP and the pricey head-and-torso devices from Bruel & Kjaer. I don't have access to the later, but am pretty pleased with the former, as it seems a big step up from trying out a lot of different headphones in hopes of finding a good match.

 

[Robbo99999]

A large issue with headphones that occur with speakers is comfort. From a measurement standpoint, Rtings has this all down pat, they just need to refine their score calculations. They measure weight, clamping force, and head unit temperature, all important aspects on whether I would ever own a pair of over-backs.

That's certainly part of choosing the right headphone. But yes, I'd like to see some headphone measurement & testing & EQ on this site if possible (going back to the original point).

 

[anmpr1]

I don't see how Fearless Leader does it. Gordon Holt needed help. Harry Pearson needed help (I don't mean psychiatric but publishing), Peter Aczel needed help. I once had a job working 12-15 hours/day. Ex-wife told me if I didn't come home more she'd leave. She left and took the Pioneer SX-1980 with her. Out of spite. Maybe I deserved it. How can anyone deserve that horrible fate? Hope that doesn't happen to Fearless Leader. A family man has to make time for family.

 

[RayDunzl]

Maybe they already left.

Hello?

Honey?

Hmm...

 

[North_Sky]

I don't see how Fearless Leader does it. Gordon Holt needed help. Harry Pearson needed help (I don't mean psychiatric but publishing), Peter Aczel needed help. I once had a job working 12-15 hours/day. Ex-wife told me if I didn't come home more she'd leave. She left and took the Pioneer SX-1980 with her. Out of spite. Maybe I deserved it. How can anyone deserve that horrible fate? Hope that doesn't happen to Fearless Leader. A family man has to make time for family.

Oh I like that, that's good. Not the wife leaving but you sharing with us ... invaluable.

 

[Colonel7]

Definitely need another tester or two or three to round out things. Theres just not enough Amir time even if he posted a review every single day to keep on dacs, speakers, amplifiers, avrs and just gear in general.

Only Amir can decide what most interests him for testing as things march on (speakers, developing new metrics based on his testing and feedback etc.) Or if he wants to continue as he's been doing.

Only he knows as well as what can burn him out. The biggest risk I see here is something going sour and things just becoming no fun all at once. Case in point: there are a fair amount of people that openly discuss using Amir as their personal testing and shopping service. All it takes is one duplicitous or just nuts person to create trouble because Amir didn't test and return gear in the return window when they bought a couple sets of expensive avrs or speakers to audition and Amir has one that will clinch the purchase in their own mind, despite no promises being made or waivers signed etc.

Another thought: Folks have mentioned an intern for packing boxes and scutwork. Thinking bigger, another option is to use the online sports journalism model, which is to throw out the idea of an unpaid apprenticeship and you supply the tools and start measuring! You'd be surprised how many people fight to do this and are excited to do it bc it's a passion.

 

[Cahudson42]

Re: Headphones..

Just a reminder/point out that we already have a great Headphone oriented site, by our own @solderdude - as he is too modest to mention it:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/

 

[DDF]

Definitely need another tester or two or three to round out things

Don't think @amirm is quite ready to cede that level of control yet. See here:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...rements-of-gustard-a18-dac.13781/#post-420458

It would have to be someone he already knows very well, as shown by what he promotes/likes and what he doesn't.

Understandable given the level of personal effort and careful mgt it took building the site.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

As I wrote in another thread, this is just the beginning.
The mission here is the opposite of the great Justin Gordon Holt, “the founder of the high-end audio movement, which promoted the philosophy of judging sound quality by subjective tests“. J.G.Holt founded Stereophile in 1962 and Amirm Founded (with Fun) Audiosciencereview with the philosophy that sound quality can be measured.

time has changed; almost 60 years passed since then. technology has changed, media, communications but above all people. In this new world It’s a matter of time and any hole/demand automatically is filled in.

the hole here is the demand of answers exactly as it was in the past, driven by the same passion and love for music but definitely different in the original mission, “audio is science and music is art” (B. Putzeys).

what we should be happy is that we are here, at the beginning of a story, because ASR will evolve into something we don know yet.
to me we miss a YouTube channel, let’s image the nice videos of testing speakers and amplifiers...
at the end, as it happened with internet, each of us will be part of the story. The value here is in Amirm‘s reviews and in the contribution of his reviewers, https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?members/&key=most_likes that are indeed each of us.

The King is dead, long live the King!

my Best
L.

We should also add that the technology is many times better and more affordable than in JGH's day, and the understanding of what measurements mean and how they correlate with audible sound quality has also advanced immeasurably since the early days of Stereophile's founding, so, please, no Schitting on what Holt did which was a major contribution for his day.

 

[RayDunzl]

ASR Long Term Plans...

Every time I read that phrase I can't help but wonder whether it includes Skilled Nursing or just covers Assisted Living.

Just for the record, I've already decided, having briefly visited "long term" facilities while Mother was convalescing in the "skilled nursing" wing from hip replacement and a broken collarbone, that I don't want any part of it.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Tell me about it. Today I will be shipping four monster boxes, each around 40 pounds. Spent last night and more hours today just packing them. Then on to UPS to print labels, drive to drop them off, etc. Then there is coordination with the owner behind the scenes, before and after shipping.

All of this takes time away from doing reviews (or taking care of life in general).

An intern could help with the tactics, but strategically seems more is needed. As others have pointed out, it is not clear what happens without you. But distributing the testing would reduce your burden and help with some significant other ones. Shipping costs to one location put constraints on the variety and size of loaner equipment. Am confident many want to see larger speakers tested. To make this happen will require lowering the expense hurdle to ship to you. Shy of other funding models, this means other test locations.

Have also wondered how sustainable the equipment loaner model really is? It is one thing to ship equipment that is less than a few hundred dollars, but larger speakers are generally more expensive and more risky to ship too. I get that it has worked to date, but along with shipping costs, am hesitant to ship anything large or expensive. Recently I have had more than a few new appliances show up damaged and had damage to speaker paint that shipped to me within the state. To ensure you get a bookshelf speaker intact, I have taken to creating major packaging. Am sure ASR wants to avoid conflicts of interest, but I foresee a greater need for vendor relationship management (by you and possibly others) in the future.

 

[Hiten]

Reviews and measurement data will be helpfull in future and should be kept/preserved; but over the period of time the SINAD chart and speaker review charts will be overcrowded. Would that be a concern ?
Regards

 

[Lorenzo74]

We should also add that the technology is many times better and more affordable than in JGH's day, and the understanding of what measurements mean and how they correlate with audible sound quality has also advanced immeasurably since the early days of Stereophile's founding, so, please, no Schitting on what Holt did which was a major contribution for his day.

if you read my post I wrote “Great“ JGH. Stereophile was and still remain the reference in audio thanks tho his founder and to the incredible work done By John Atkinson. There is nothing similar available today in terms of depth of measurements in speakers and equipment.
ASR is departing from there and from the life-work of F. Toole and S Olive adding new technology and knowledge to the test bench.
Hope this help clarify my HO.
My Best
Lorenzo

 

[RickSanchez]

Reviews and measurement data will be helpfull in future and should be kept/preserved; but over the period of time the SINAD chart and speaker review charts will be overcrowded. Would that be a concern ?
Regards

That's a valid concern. The goal is to make those charts more interactive for members. For example: instead of seeing the rankings of 200 DACs you (the user) could filter it down to DACs that, say, are under $400 with XLR outputs; that might get you down to 25 or so. In other words: giving members the ability to view only the equipment that is relevant to them based on their requirements, instead of a static chart that shows everything.

 

[miero]

As I see it ASR is a place for Amirm to publish his reviews, the mission is to have as many eyes on as possible. How they are presented and the ease of navigation is important, I think it's quite good but any ideas on how to collate and present in a better way would be welcomed I'm sure.

I might help to show reviews right on the https://audiosciencereview.com/ instead of forum topics as it is now.

 

[Jimbob54]

Maybe they already left.

Hello?

Honey?

Hmm...

3 years ago.

Too many boxes, too little time

 

[amirm]

Stereophile was and still remain the reference in audio thanks tho his founder and to the incredible work done By John Atkinson.

If you look backwards, that is true. But looking forward, their model of monthly reviews is hugely deficient compared to what we are doing which is one review a day. With incredible proliferation of audio gear, what they are doing is but a spit in the ocean. Even what I am doing is not keeping up with what is coming out and what is there already. I could do a review a day of just speakers and not make a dent into all that is available especially in sub $500 category.