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I've observed similar things as a musician who plays an amplified instrument. I'm also quite curious about the inner workings of gear, and am a measurement scie

I've observed similar things as a musician who plays an amplified instrument. I'm also quite curious about the inner workings of gear, and am a measurement scientist by day. I think there's a social custom in the community, that relates to "you can be your own expert." That is, opinions are weighted by some function other than technical knowledge and expertise, such as status as a musician, enthusiasm, cost of equipment owned, etc. Nobody wants to come out and say: "You're imagining things." Technical discussions often erupt into flame wars. And there are some areas where things are probably measurably different, and it boils down to taste, but the measurements are hard to do. I can hear differences between the two instruments that I own. Does that mean I'm bonkers? At the same time, engineers who aren't immersed in this field tend to be polarized into two extremes: Some are audiophiles. Others simply dismiss everything as audiophile nonsense.

vt240 5y ago
I wholeheartedly agree with this. I ended up starting my own sound company to help lessen the divide between engineering and the end-user, where I get to go out and try and use our products for a number of real shows every year. But it's not really the same issue, as the non-sense the pervades in the audiophile industry. In my typical setup, I try and work as a stage hand, and let normal FOH and monitor engineers work with the products, where I can observe all the issues that crop up. That way I can get clean feedback from band members, and production staff without, being tainted by association with the brand.
vt240 5y ago
But the issues that come up in such experiments, are never about audiophile variables. No one has ever said, this Monitor has too much distortion, or that I need to increase the the sampling rate to to 192kHz to fix the tops, or that it would sound better if I had used oxygen free silver wire, etc. etc. What comes up is practical concerns about loudspeakers on stage. Reduce the boominess of the low end, reduce the propensity to feedback on stage, etc. Same goes with working on guitar speakers.

vt240 5y ago

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I ended up starting my own sound company to help lessen the divide between engineering and the end-user, where I get to go out and try and use our products for a number of real shows every year. But it's not really the same issue, as the non-sense the pervades in the audiophile industry. In my typical setup, I try and work as a stage hand, and let normal FOH and monitor engineers work with the products, where I can observe all the issues that crop up. That way I can get clean feedback from band members, and production staff without, being tainted by association with the brand.

vt240 5y ago

But the issues that come up in such experiments, are never about audiophile variables. No one has ever said, this Monitor has too much distortion, or that I need to increase the the sampling rate to to 192kHz to fix the tops, or that it would sound better if I had used oxygen free silver wire, etc. etc. What comes up is practical concerns about loudspeakers on stage. Reduce the boominess of the low end, reduce the propensity to feedback on stage, etc. Same goes with working on guitar speakers.