You say a lot in this sentence. What you don't see is incredible pressure I am under to get these reviews out, day in and day out. I have let my other hobbies such as gardening, sink to lowest level to try to keep up with reviews. Weeds are everywhere in the garden and I have tons of transplants dying in their little pods because I can't make the time to plant them. Meanwhile, members want to get their products reviewed understandably, seeing how some have been waiting months for them. There is probably 50 boxes here piling up in our living room waiting to be tested.
In the copious "free" time I have, I am working on projects such as figuring out how to measure in-wall speakers. Slide sets to create for tutorials for videos. You know, stuff that exists but you think they don't because I don't talk about them.
Then comes headphone reviews. Unless the outcome is stellar, you can be assured of a barrage of complaints. Oh this other guy shows different measurements than you. Really? If you trust that one, why are you are you reading mine? I am not the kid you slap on the back of the head every time you walk by because you can.
If I entertained every request, "why don't you measure it this way or that way," this whole project would come to a grinding halt. There is a system here, however imperfect, to get through and produce a ton of objective data that doesn't exist otherwise across so many products and categories. Massive investment of time, money and sacrifices in life elsewhere is required to get us this far.
But no, I didn't test this headphone with that other pad so let's throw in the towel on the whole thing. Is this what you are really saying?
Haven't taken a vacation in year and half. Not even a day trip. Sitting here, I don't even know how to stop doing this work and do a bit of that.
You want experimentation? Fund it. Generate $50,000/year I can pay someone else to chase all these things you want investigated. Sans that, you are stuck with one of me. There is no more to be had especially given the manner in which wishes are expressed.....
With all due respect, it sounds like you're not enjoying this. If you're not enjoying it, why do it?
If your goal is to get through measuring as many headphones as possible, perhaps just focus on that, skip the exposition/recommendations and don't accept comments? Maybe a blog would be a better format than a discussion forum?
With regard to the many suggestions you get, my complaint isn't so much that you don't pursue all of them but rather that you tend to exhibit a dismissive attitude towards them. This post of yours is a perfect example - someone like myself who suggests that there are areas for improvement is alternately treated like a troll, a leech or an imbecile, rather than being treated as a thinking human being with interesting questions and potentially interesting contributions, and ultimately is just an impediment to your work. That's a poor basis for building a vibrant community, which is what I sought here.
Regarding the pad thing specifically... I don't know where you got the idea that I wanted you to remeasure the Atticus, I never asked for that. I simply made the general point that pads can make a large difference to sound, something that has been well established by reputable measurements from various sources. You refused to accept this at face value and dismissed the evidence I provided by questioning the integrity of the source, which is what led me to offer to send you a variety of pads so that you can verify for yourself. Sure it's not $50k annually, but it's what I have to offer.
To get right down to it, possible outcomes that would have satisfied me would be:
1. You accept existing evidence and admit that pads can make a substantial difference, and take this into account when for example, measuring the HD598SE with after-market pads, by withholding judgment and clearly caveating your measurements.
2. You accept my offer of pads and investigate for yourself
3. You ask me to conduct an experiment to satisfy you (I can offer E.A.R.S. measurements and occluded ear, but no GRAS unless you'll loan me yours
Instead, this discussion went nowhere and you continue to measure headphones without regard to pad provenance or condition. That's a missed opportunity for learning and improvement, which doesn't align with what I thought was the spirit of this place.
If you don't have something you want from me that's somewhere between shutting up or donating 50k annually, then my instinct to just leave is vindicated.
P.S. regarding "you are stuck with one of me" ... that's something that could at least in part be remedied by you reaching out to folks in the community like oratory1990 (as I once suggested) and figuring out ways to pool your resources and learn from each other, but you dismissed that too.
