How to know what is good?

[Echo]

I am fairly new to the Hi-Fi world, my last hobby was computer hardware, where benchmarks are the norm, to know what is good or not for the price, otherwise in the hi-fi world it seems to still be niche. How can I know what is good without relying on subjective reviews by probable shills and trawling through forums to gain a consensus on what is good or not? How do I know if a headphone, DAC and amp is good? How do I read the graphs on this forum, is there a guide, you could kindly link?

 

[TungstenC]

Welcome!
Amir posted a guide a on how to interpret measurement graphs here
(The graphs are from the older sys-2522)

FYI A bit about your host.... and Amir's AP x555 upgrade

 

[graz_lag]

Trust your ears if you are looking for a specific sound signature ...
Read and compare the measurements if you are looking for transparency instead ...

Attention : transparency might not satisfy you though, better is if you invest some time visiting auditoriums with the goal to compare the sound of what they call "neutral" setups to some "coloured" ones as mainstream brand setups for example Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer ect ...

 

[graz_lag]

Ohh ... Never ask for the prices when you enter an auditorium ... Today salesmen go very fast and easy in snobbing you ...

 

[Biblob]

Trust your hears if you are looking for a specific sound signature ...
Read and compare the measurements if you are looking for transparency instead ...

Attention : transparency might not satisfy you though, better is if you invest some time visiting auditoriums with the goal to compare the sound of what they call "neutral" setups to some "coloured" ones as mainstream brand setups for example Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer ect ...

This still doesn't help if you don't have a reference where you could compare this with, preferabely blind as well. This counts for speakers and headphones. I would come to the conclusion that DACs and amps should not sound differently when designed and engineered properly.
So if you would want objective knowledge about this, I would recommend to look at measurements, where Tungsten referes too.