Willhelm_Scream
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- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
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"No one here is concerned with "what sounds better" simply because of the endless semantic and philosophical argumentation that can be brought up arguing "better" endlessly"
So no-one is concerned with "what sounds better" yet measurements are discussed because you think good measurements mean the equipment sounds....what? worse? You can't try to separate conversation about sound between sound as it exists in a vacuum and perceived sound, because in order for someone to actually hear the sound they have to perceive it, and sense perceptions are inherently subjective. Now your argument might be that equipment that measures better tends to sound better, but that still is subjective, because some people prefer equipment that measures poorly.
I know that you think that dacs and amps that measure well are simply "preserving the original source", and that the only thing standing in between the original source and your ears is distortion in the equipment. But remember that that source is just a bunch of 0s and 1s and is meaningless until it is translated by a dac, and then amplified into your ears by your amp and headphones, and processed by your brain. An amp can amplify the sound into your headphones in a way that is pleasing to you or not pleasing to you. There are a million different ways the amp or headphones can do it, and there is no way to say that one way is closer to the original digital source or not other than by measuring the distortion, which in the case of the 789 is inaudible or practically inaudible. Personally I'd rather have a system that sounds better to me, than one that measures better, because usually the differences that show up in measurements aren't even audible. But that's just me.
In conclusion this is what I think: There is most likely no objective difference that can be heard and discerned in a double-blind test between good to excellent amplifiers operated below clipping. There is definitely no objective difference that can be heard between well engineered dacs. Therefore there isn't much utility in performing measurements, except to prove there is no point in buying $20K amps and dacs. The greatest cause of actual differences in sound systems is from the headphones themselves. There is no way to objectively measure headphones. Therefore, measurements are of little use to someone looking to maximize utility of their setup, other than to rule out the need to buy astronomically priced gear
So no-one is concerned with "what sounds better" yet measurements are discussed because you think good measurements mean the equipment sounds....what? worse? You can't try to separate conversation about sound between sound as it exists in a vacuum and perceived sound, because in order for someone to actually hear the sound they have to perceive it, and sense perceptions are inherently subjective. Now your argument might be that equipment that measures better tends to sound better, but that still is subjective, because some people prefer equipment that measures poorly.
I know that you think that dacs and amps that measure well are simply "preserving the original source", and that the only thing standing in between the original source and your ears is distortion in the equipment. But remember that that source is just a bunch of 0s and 1s and is meaningless until it is translated by a dac, and then amplified into your ears by your amp and headphones, and processed by your brain. An amp can amplify the sound into your headphones in a way that is pleasing to you or not pleasing to you. There are a million different ways the amp or headphones can do it, and there is no way to say that one way is closer to the original digital source or not other than by measuring the distortion, which in the case of the 789 is inaudible or practically inaudible. Personally I'd rather have a system that sounds better to me, than one that measures better, because usually the differences that show up in measurements aren't even audible. But that's just me.
In conclusion this is what I think: There is most likely no objective difference that can be heard and discerned in a double-blind test between good to excellent amplifiers operated below clipping. There is definitely no objective difference that can be heard between well engineered dacs. Therefore there isn't much utility in performing measurements, except to prove there is no point in buying $20K amps and dacs. The greatest cause of actual differences in sound systems is from the headphones themselves. There is no way to objectively measure headphones. Therefore, measurements are of little use to someone looking to maximize utility of their setup, other than to rule out the need to buy astronomically priced gear
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