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I agree & disagree. (long)

Hi.

First off, what is an audiophile? IMO, it is a person who loves playing 'canned' music from its rig.

Now we get this new kind of sound people branded as "sightophile" who are said to choose by the brandnames ONLY.

Frankly, do "sightophiles" exist? I am not sure as who would drop a bundle without first seriously listening to it whatever famous brandname the product could be? It is for the ear rather than for
style & prestige like a handbag or a car.

There may be a few 'rich & famous' people who don't mind pay to show off. I have seen some rich guy paid 130,000 greenbacks to own a 17W+17W silver loaded 300E SE tube power amp. Is it a brandname? It depends who looks at it, surely not Marantz, McIntosh. It is Audio Note of Japan, not a very popoular brandname, right? The fact is, it sound very good to me despite its extreme lofty price. So your argument that a $5,000 CDP does not worth a $500 is debatable. I have audition many very costly audio gears that sound pretty good, & yet some indeed sound aweful.

One should not draw a sweeping criticism against those who go for fine French crusines as idiots because one can't afford it.

But in our audio realworld, there will only be a very few of those rich & willing. I would brand them as one of a kind instead a separate class.

We have heard enough allegation that there are subjectivists who decide solely on listening. And there are also so called objectionist who decide on the specification data rather than listening. But let's be honest, even the extreme objectionists will listen first before they buy any sonic stuff. Ability to audition is relative & should not be used as an excuse of criticism as sonic is purely personal likeness like wine.

I agree A/B comparison is the tool of choosing, be it sighted, DBT or whatever. But the ultimate reference, IMO, is live acoustical performance (without PA reinforcement) - the real thing.

Most music lovers fond of going to concerts. Why? We can enjoy watching, listening & being physically involved there. This is how our brain perceives the total sound event through the vital senses of sight, sound & emotion. Even a church choir in a Sunday morning servcie is already a handy source of live reference. So?

Nothing's perfect & downside is bound to be there, even the best implemented DBTs. The bottom line is these man-made methologies
must be go in line with what our brain perceive naturally. If any tests that are designed to audition an audio stuff depriving the listeners of their full vital sonic senses which paint out the entire sound event. This is not longer valid regardless how 'sciencific' or 'impartial' it is claimed.

That's why data taken by instrumentation is a far far cry from being
relevant to our aural perception. So better & more relevant methologies have to be developed & properly executed to give us the
objective part of the sonic equation. It may take time though as we are far from being there.

c-J




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