I'm not telling you how to have fun, that I can see. Just defending my right to have fun they way I want to, defending my POV on it, at least. And yes this place is more tolerable outside of these philosophical debate threads.
I think the differences have less to do with any sort of reasoning or debate, and more to do with the different way people's brains work. I grew up with a father with what would now be diagnosed as Aspergers. Wasn't a lot of point in trying to convince him of grey areas in the world. His opinions were very black and white and the very idea of there being nuance to some things was just..it just wasn't there. Like it was incapable of being processed in his head. Didn't make his ideas wrong, at all, he was just a different person and fascinating in his own unique way. And I'm not saying that's everybody here just an extreme example of being wired in a different way. I went to art and communications school... 100% subjectivity all the time.
I spent my first three years in architecture school, so I know what you mean. And when I listen to music, I do it as a musician, not as an audio enthusiast. I can listen to music in the car and be just as moved by it as hearing it at home. But that doesn't mean I'm going to claim that my car stereo system is as good as my home system. I just don't confuse those two objectives (being moved by music and building a good system) in my mind.
But it isn't just that. When I first joined ASR, I made an introductory post titled "I found my engineer's safe place." This is a place where people can come and chat with experts about stuff that actually requires some expertise. Stuff that can be measured, and stuff that can be designed, on purpose. Those who think measurements are inadequate have never been able to tell me how their favorite guru designers actually design. Do they just guess and keep guessing until they happen upon something that tickles their subjective fantasy? I hope not, and I doubt it. Some of them rather cynically disclaim measurements, because they
know their own designs don't always measure well. And if they don't measure well, it's for one of two reasons: 1.) they are not as expert as they have portrayed themselves as being, or 2.) they are not actually trying to make stuff that measures well. (Maybe they say they measure stuff nobody else measures, but keep it as a trade secret and won't tell us--I actually wish that were true, but it isn't.) I have no problem with the second reason if they are honest about it. But no--they often declare, or let their sycophant customers do it for them, that for the first time there exists a device that is actually true to the music.
Uh-huh. The inconsistencies are astounding.
As a result of joining in here, I have obtained and learned how to minimally use REW, along with a calibrated test microphone. I have dusted off old test equipment and used it for a significant project that most here would think a waste of effort (restoring a vintage TEAC open-reel deck). I have rearranged my listening area, and replaced just about all of my equipment except my turntable, but I probably would have done that anyway, and the choices I made were far too old to have gotten much airplay here. But what I did learn here (the limit of my hearing, and how to interpret speaker measurements) was applicable to interpreting old tests of vintage gear. I have just this week obtained a new oscilloscope that has more features and works more easily than my vintage model, and I'm thinking of ways to perform some testing, such as what change occurs in the waveform of a Hypex amp when the clipping lights are flashing. Do I need to know that to enjoy the music? Not at all. But learning it scratches an itch on the other side of my brain.
When I venture into, say, Audiokarma, I don't engage these arguments or act as an apologist for ASR. But it's more fun here--the experts know more and listen better. And people here know more about coffee and whisky, too.
Rick "is that what you call the black hole absorbing all fun?" Denney