I like this page and the reviews, and I think Amir is doing an excellent work. However, I think some of the conclusions drawn from measurements are wrong. Yes, measurements can be used to (partly) decide how well engineered an HiFi equipment is, but they cannot fully describe sound quality. Take soundstage (depth, width, precision, cohesion and more), no measurement I have seen can measure those.
I can take an example, from 2 DACs I have listened to myself, the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital and the Schiit Yggdrasil. Looking at measurements the Pro-Ject DAC looks to sound better, but it does not. Not even close! The sound stage, clarity and detail retrieval from the Schiit is several steps ahead, as it should based on the price difference. And if you don't believe me, do yourself a favor and listen yourself.
Then there is the issue of sound quality: what is it? Lots of people out there like tubes and R2R DACs, which measures horrible. In a way, you could say that they add "good" distortion, and while the ears can differentiate between good and bad distortion, measurements cannot.
Btw, I have equipment that measures good myself (RME ADI-2 DAC and NCore 500 power amps), because I like how they sound. But there are better sounding DACs and amps out there, and some of those measure less good.
I can take an example, from 2 DACs I have listened to myself, the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital and the Schiit Yggdrasil. Looking at measurements the Pro-Ject DAC looks to sound better, but it does not. Not even close! The sound stage, clarity and detail retrieval from the Schiit is several steps ahead, as it should based on the price difference. And if you don't believe me, do yourself a favor and listen yourself.
Then there is the issue of sound quality: what is it? Lots of people out there like tubes and R2R DACs, which measures horrible. In a way, you could say that they add "good" distortion, and while the ears can differentiate between good and bad distortion, measurements cannot.
Btw, I have equipment that measures good myself (RME ADI-2 DAC and NCore 500 power amps), because I like how they sound. But there are better sounding DACs and amps out there, and some of those measure less good.