Not going to buy on MassDrop unless measured first

[DuxServit]

Folks,

So I’ve come to the point of creating my own new “Personal MassDrop Policy”: for measurable devices (e.g. DACs) I am going to delay (or simply decline) purchasing on MassDrop until I see some published measurements— such as from ASR.

Do you think this is reasonable?

 

[restorer-john]

Perfectly reasonable.

 

[amirm]

Not only reasonable but necessary. There are so many offerings out there with no validation of proper design and operation.

 

[garbulky]

What do you hope these measurements will help you gain or help you figure out with your purchase decision? Is there a specific measurement that is audible to you that DACs nowadays fail? Or is it more safety information?

 

[DuxServit]

It’s primarily to:

(a) Reduce/filter the overwhelming number of new loft-cost audio devices being advertised through HF and MassDrop;

(b) Provide a sanity-check against herd-mentality praising the sound impressions of certain audio devices.

 

[restorer-john]

I'm not interested in audio reproduction equipment purveyed on some 'group-think', 'flavor-of-the-month' site or sites where substance and technicality are thin on the ground.

 

[stunta]

We need an AsrDrop Measured equipment only!

 

[Jinjuku]

What do you hope these measurements will help you gain or help you figure out with your purchase decision? Is there a specific measurement that is audible to you that DACs nowadays fail? Or is it more safety information?

What kind of filter is applied, if the unit is designed to reject noise, if the unit exhibits good linearity, if the unit has good channel balance, if the unit does a good job of jitter suppression.

 

[Rod]

I went into audio big time about 10 years ago and left it disappointed by following "advice" of the forums at that time. This time I went with measurements and am not disappointed and am satisfied with what I have achieved. From a layman's viewpoint, I decided that if the manufacturer spent the time improving there specs. that measure well, then I can depend on there product to be well engineered and thought out even if I can't hear the slight improvements between dac a/b. Worked well this time around.

 

[Rod]

Also those slight improvements year to year seem to have a cumulative effect over a decades time that I can hear, in the equip. that I can afford to buy. I never demod really expensive top end gear at the time so I cant answer for that market.