Another dagger to the heart, I am felled.
I have been a member of this forum longer than you, or
@MacClintock , or
@isostasy . I am very familiar with the ethos, the belief in blind testing, the Harman target. In fact, there was a time when I would have been spouting the same talking points as you all, specifically as it relates to DAC linearity, distortion, etc. I've even done blind testing of fuses for the sake of showing members of Head-Fi that they do not, in fact, make any difference in sound quality. The ideology of ASR does not need to be explained to me, I was once as bought into it as you are.
What changed, however, was when I starting building my own audio equipment. You see, I do believe in science, but more specifically I believe in it in fields that have signficant ramifications on human life beyond answering the question "wHaT sPeAkErS dO i BuY?" Science in this area is, again, small potatoes. And why is there a dearth of research as it relates to say, headphone measurements? Because it is a field of study concerned with one thing - selling products, capitalism. And as such, I don't take it all that seriously, because it is a hobby, not a crusade for absolute truth as you treat it.
Now, I do measure everything I design (one would be stupid not to) and my experiences showed me that even if a piece of gear measures well, it does not always translate to good sound. I have made single ended circuits with tube stages with voltage gains >1000 (think CCS loaded pentode, if you know what that means) with huge amounts of distortion crushing / linearizing negative feedback. And the results? Most often, sounded worse. I have built circuits with adjustable feedback, via potentiomer so it could be tweaked on the fly and the best sound optimized for. Guess what? The best sound was NOT when feedback was at its maximum / when measurements were at their best. "But shouldn't my bias after seeing the best measurement tell me that the amplifier sounded better with more feedback?" Well, it didn't, it sounded more dull and less dynamic (in my experience, there is a "goldilocks" point in terms of negative feedback, but I digress).
So, because of my experiences building gear, while using measurements, and finding that there is not always a strong correlation between measured and subjective performance, I maintain a healthy skepticism of the hardcore, completely indoctrinated objectivists, like you guys. Some day, you may have an experience yourselves that makes you question your audio beliefs, like I did.
Ultimately what makes me happy in audio is designing and building my own equipment. It is a creative outlet and you only need to be concerned with pleasing yourself. It just so happens other people expressed interest in the things I was making, and after sampling them, requested I make a design of mine public, which I did. Since I released that project in May, some thirty or so people have built the amplifier and not one of them has regretted it. In fact, several of them sold off their old gear.
Have I blind tested it against a cheaper, well-measuring solid state amplifier? No, I haven't, maybe I will, but to be frank I don't really care to because it's not what I'm interested in. I like to make things, not dissect them. I am a producer, not a consumer
@isostasy
But feel free to do as you wish toward your audio happiness, that is mine. If that means blind testing into infinity and arguing with people on the internet, you are in the right place. Just stay away from diyAudio.com.