This thread strengthens my thoughts on how some brands, especially name brands, have their Defenders of the Faith, a kind of thought police who cruise the internet, constantly searching for new discussion of ‘their’ brand.
And when they find it, these Defenders either luxuriate in the glow of yet another positive review, “you go ‘bro”, “welcome to the club”, etc, or if it is a negative review, come down hard on it from every possible angle in order to disrespect it, or at least to dismiss it as ‘your ears vs my ears’. Every. Single. Time.
If the negative review is subjective, the thought police descend with “break-in time can take months or years”, “partnering equipment is critical and sometimes only the best (read expensive) partnering gear will get them to sing”, or for speakers, “they are monumentally sensitive to room positioning, speaker and listener both, and you need to just keep ‘tweaking’ for as long as it takes, again this can take months or even years, but when you get it right they instantly transform from okay-ish to the best thing ever”. If all else fails, it’s “your ears vs my ears”. Ring any bells?
If the negative review is
objective, then heaven help the poor reviewer, because the Defenders instantly feel fully justified to go on the attack about how hopelessly broken is the link between measurements and sound quality. “You can’t measure ‘xxx’: organic integration, liquidity, depth, transparency...” The list is infinite. Or, “A simple listen with your ears proves that the measured flaw is irrelevant, or you must be measuring the wrong things (i.e. things that don’t matter).” The fact, that listening with their ears, in the manner that they invariably did when forming their opinions, is completely proven to be dominated by things other than the actual sound waves, doesn’t seem to be a fact that the Defenders will allow to get between them and their story. The other fact, that the link, between measurements and how the sound waves are liked or not, is stronger today than before, and so strong as to be described as reliable, gets brushed aside with a dismissive “listen with your ears”. Well sure, but do it in a controlled manner that makes the subjective comments actually be about sound waves, for a change. Until then, the SOTA measurements are the
best, most reliable indicator of how the
sound waves will be rated by listeners. Casual, sighted listening is a broken gauge of
sound waves.
This speaker and brand seems to have more than its fair share of Defenders of the Faith. Attempts to discredit the measurements started long before the review was even published, going back to when Amir first announced that a review is in the pipeline. Guys, let it go. You have come to the wrong forum if the above paragraphs describe your defence. It’s okay to still like/love a speaker that has significant flaws (that are correlated with lower subjective appeal of the sound waves). And it’s also okay for you to admit that those flaws exist and have relevance. It won’t hurt the speaker’s feelings. After all, it can speak, but it cannot hear.
Cheers