But with Amir's measurements, there is no real need to buy crap performing gear regardless of the priceThere's a flip side to this. I hold Amir in very high esteem. I wouldnt be here if I didn't. I dont care about Audigon or Stereophile forums etc. because... LOL...
But you shouldnt take Amir's charts as gospel either.
WOuld I buy a PA5 or this thing on his recommendation? Well no.
But because I value his charts obviously and his useability and aesthetics comments I obviously take this into account very seriously. But I have bought stuff without his tests.
Also to me price comes into it. I'm ok with a $100 unit having heaps of flaws if I can live with it. I'm very not ok if it gets up to $350 etc. (you know what talking about)
To me there's a "spectrum or continuum of nonsense"... I would put Andrew Robinson in the middle somewhere... I do value what he has to say about functionality and 'fit for purpose' of a particular item... he's used it... I havent... I can see where our "values align"....
I have less good things to say about Darko or Jay or Thomas Stereo but even then I do like to see what they say about certain things.
I'm sure that the majority of us that bought bad peforming gear in the past was due to the fact that these independent & objective measurements were not avalible to the majority ofus. we only really had acsess to a bunch of subjective "reviews"