I think what is mean't (so the topic remains relevant )
- is there may be a grey area where measurements contradict what is heard. The Art of Sound Forum ( Marco ) in the UK provides a
viewpoint on this grey area by saying at Post 5
https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?17-The-basics-of-Ethos
"We would gladly use science automatically as the benchmark to judge all things hi-fi, if we felt that it provided all the answers necessary. It would certainly be much easier having an 'undisputable reference' as one's basis for judgement. But it's the grey areas that bother us.
Quite clearly, science can't currently provide all the answers in audio, certainly as far as measuring how equipment and its associated ancillaries treats
music signals, and ascertaining how humans process recorded musical information, via our ears and brain. Therefore grey areas exist because we are not robots, and so when listening to music, our brains aren't programmed to respond in a specific way to known audio measurement parameters...
The fact is, we do not listen to music in the same way as scientific apparatus measures sound waves.
If such apparatus could measure how we as humans listen to and appreciate
music, then measurements would be truly meaningful and embraced wholeheartedly by music enthusiasts and audiophiles alike. That is why audio/music enthusiasts, like those on AOS, will always trust their ears more than any scientific tests or measurements, because what can currently be measured scientifically just doesn't tell the whole story.
Until the day comes when tests and measurements unequivocally provide all the answers, we will happily continue using our discerning ears which for us are infinitely more accurate and reliable in ascertaining what really matters in hi-fi (and subsequently in our enjoyment of music), especially in those all-important grey areas... It's often the small details or 'grey areas' that make the most significant difference, and thus are ultimately of most significance!
Marco"
My viewpoint is that it is possible to strip the essence of music from a piece of equipment by using electronic circuit techniques that make audio amplification or for that matter also attenuation sterile - yet at the same time the equipment might measure very well. Perhaps there are key measurements that also detect sterility in circuitry?