Blind tests.....

[Westsounds]

Yes. And the hi-fi market is full of it. Must be hard for the few serious companies to "navigate" in the hi-fi market.

I see what you mean there, there is a point where 'serious' means being realistic and honest, and how can they be honest when everyone else is buying into fantasy.

 

[fpitas]

For most of the readers, you are right.
I think ASR has done an amazing job in bringing sanity into hi-fi.
A further improvement could have been to categorize (based on the measurements) each product (*) into one out of three categories like "transparent" (perfect performance), "medium" (room for improvement, but not terrible) and "terrible".

(*) Excluding loudspeakers and headphones.

Amir does have a color code scheme for SINAD.

 

[Westsounds]

(*) Excluding loudspeakers and headphones.

These are the outlier, as they are pretty much all about strong characteristic presentation, and one which is so diverse at that. Quality does count there, depending on the desired effect of course, but once thats good, you can pretty much eq speakers to a desired effect.

 

[sprellemannen]

I like scientific results and find it interesting that for instance Nike pays the world's best athletes a fortune to use and promote their shoes.
I would have preferred scientific facts (publications, reports) supporting the high quality of the shoes, but that is obviously not what "sells".

 

[Westsounds]

I like scientific results and find it interesting that for instance Nike pays the world's best athletes a fortune to use and promote their shoes.
I would have preferred scientific facts (publications, reports) supporting the high quality of the shoes, but that is obviously not what "sells".

Yes, you are right, it's just 'bro science' on a global scale and often accepted as the best products. While possibly a well constructed pair of running shoes from your local value store will enable those athletes to run just as fast. BS aside Bad Science that is of course, Nike do make decent running shoes, which do have quality and longevity from my personal opinion, the price is often hard to deal with though, but that's thanks to the marketing and BS, unfortunately.

 

[sprellemannen]

Yes, you are right, it's just 'bro science' on a global scale and often accepted as the best products. While possibly a well constructed pair of running shoes from your local value store will enable those athletes to run just as fast. BS aside Bad Science that is of course, Nike do make decent running shoes, which do have quality and longevity from my personal opinion, the price is often hard to deal with though, but that's thanks to the marketing and BS, unfortunately.

I also like the quality of Nike shoes (and clothes as well), and I think they do a lot of good research to improve their shoes. Unfortunately, Nike probably "has to" do some BS or silly marketing just to sell maximize sale. Science does not sell to the masses. But Nike is still (in my subjective opinion) an amazing brand.

In hi-fi, though, most brands are unethical and promoting BS. That being said, it is worth having an OK stereo! (hopefully from good brands). I easily admit that good sound does not need to be expensive.

 

[sprellemannen]

Back to tests. I remember comparing (not blind) an expensive CD-player (brand: T+A) to a VERY cheap one (Sony). I could not hear a difference.

Blind tests are a big "enemy" for many brands and hi-fi shops.

 

[Westsounds]

I also like the quality of Nike shoes (and clothes as well), and I think they do a lot of good research to improve their shoes. Unfortunately, Nike probably "has to" do some BS or silly marketing just to sell maximize sale. Science does not sell to the masses. But Nike is still (in my subjective opinion) an amazing brand.

In hi-fi, though, most brands are unethical and promoting BS. That being said, it is worth having an OK stereo! (hopefully from good brands). I easily admit that good sound does not need to be expensive.

Nike is a massive company, not always ethical either, but they do have extensive R&D which many smaller manufacturers could never compete with. So they would have some decent products as a result of that, even if they kind of rip off their customers and maximize profits, but we have capitalism to thank for that.

 

[sprellemannen]

Scientifically speaking though subjective reviews will probably sell more DACs than factual ones. And in a market of listening to emotional content such as music, people often buy with their beliefs of what it'll do than with facts.

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. And I think many brands do not want the scientific focus. Not many brands (as I understand it) are sending their products to Amir (ASR). Some brands who have done that are Benchmark, Topping, Genelec, Arendal and Dan Clark (the list is quite much longer, but I am too lazy now to make it more complete. That being said, the list is not long compared to the very many brands in the hi-fi market).

 

[sprellemannen]

Nike is a massive company, not always ethical either, but they do have extensive R&D which many smaller manufacturers could never compete with. So they would have some decent products as a result of that, even if they kind of rip off their customers and maximize profits, but we have capitalism to thank for that.

Maybe most of Nike's products' prices in fact are low because of their extremely huge number of units sold? (low compared to the material costs combined with the product development and research costs)
The same can not be said about the products of brands like Gryphon, dCS, Goldmund etc.