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From: "goFab.com"
Date: 7/8/2004 8:21 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id: VaoHc.50782$Oq2.19921@attbi_s52

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:47:35 GMT, in article HUeHc.12796$WX.4645@attbi_s51,
S888Wheel stated:

When the substance of a review is so
deeply at odds with the measured results, one must question what useful
purpose
these qualitative reviews are serving (beyond informing us of the mere
existence
of a particular product).

No one is suggesting that you agree with MF. But one has to wonder if you
are
letting your biases get the best of your opinion given you have never
listened
to the amps in question.

And what biases would those be?

The one you have already expressed about the measurments of this amp.

You think I'm a shill for a competing $350K
audio amplifier? :-)

This might be another one. The price.

FYI, I'm not in the business (audio or audio press)
and I
don't have any particular axe to grind.

You may not be in the audio press( I never said or implied you were) But I am
skeptical about the axe.

I'm a Stereophile subscriber; that's
the extent of my stake in the quality of the magazine.

You keep talking about "listening to the amps in question" -- if everyone
could
personally listen to every product, there would be little need for a magazine
that reviews them.

I disagree on two counts. One of the benefits of audiophile magazines is to
alert audiophiles to the existance of products the magazine sees as a potential
interest. The second count is the notion that such magazines are "needed."

A review, IMHO, is supposed to impart information, and it
would be good if there was some articulable basis on which to rely on the
information imparted.

If one is relying on a review and skipping any audition before making a
purchase I would say they are creating their own problems should they be
dissatisfied. If you rely on the *opinions* of others, you get what they like.

Here is a question for you. You listen to a product like the WAVACs. You
know
you don't like the measurements but you really did think what you heard
sounded
more like live music. What do you report in your review?

I would report that I personally liked them but I would also prominently add,
"Warning Warning Will Robinson: these amps did not test well at all."

And this is unlike what Stereophile did in what way?

And I
would certainly temper the statements made in my review.

You would? You mean you would let your biases regarding the measurements affect
your honest impression of the sound you experienced? I would not like that at
all. I would want the most honest review of the sonic impressions.
Interestingly MF was not aware of how the amp measured before writing his
review. maybe it was for the best. Maybe the measurements would have tempered
his review which would have been less true to his impressions. IMO Stereophile
may have out done what you would have done yourself.

I'm not saying the
review had to be negative, but I'd probably hold off on going to the lengths
that MF did -- apotheosis, eureka, and all that stuff -- for something that
didn't sport such obvious defects on the bench.

IMO that would have been a mistake based on a prejudice due to the measured
performance. I think maybe Stereophile should be given their due for not
corrupting the honest impressions of the reviewer while giving a good
accounting of the measured performance of this unit.

And if I really believed that it "sounded more like live music" despite the
obvious existence of high levels of distortion and other anomalies in the
measurements, I would start asking myself serious questions about whether
this
repeated mantra of today's audio reviewers really does have any objective
meaning at all.

I do believe MF actually made such insinuations in his review.

If I were an audio reviewer, I'd think I'd have a strong
interest in firmly establishing the informational value of what I was
writing,
so personally there would be some serious self-examination going on.

Maybe there was. MF knows for sure. I'm not sure that it belongs in a review of
a piece of equipment. I'm not sure it doesn't either. I know most of HP's
reviews had a lot of this going on. I tended to find his ramblings on the
matters of self-examination rather dull.

Maybe
there is, but if it is, you don't see it discussed in the audio press
(outside
of the letters column occasionally).