Stereophile, no more bench tests????!!!!


Looks like Stereophile may be cutting back on expenses, no more bench testing for measurements and specs to keep the manufacturers and reviewers honest, it'll make you think twice on what to believe now, without the proof to back it up.

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no534-power-amplifier

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-91-parasound-halo-52

 

Cheers George


128x128georgehifi
It’s a shame if so. High End Audio seems much more interested in bling and mysticism not engineering in order to preserve itself here these days. Oh well.   Much easier for all and probably more profitable that way.
tgrisham - I would like to present another point of view. In my opinion the measurements are meaningless.....

If the measurements are performed correctly, competently, etc. the measurements would mean something. Albeit I understand what you are meaning, which is that the measurement data may not be indicative of the sound quality or lack thereof. The interpretation of the measurements is what would have meaning. 

In the case of my DAC, I've read on two different forums where one group states the measurements are exceptionally good and another forum where a different group states the same measurements are terrible. 

I'd like to see manufacturers publish measurement data in accordance with industry standards, like those of Audio Precision.
The measurements are still there, IIRC, and I think John/Stereophile now possibly owns the audio precision test bed? Whereas he had it on extended loan originally, from reading his earliest comments on such...

George, you are leaping to conclusions that don’t exist, looking for strawmen to prop up so you can punch them out.

For those who wish to continue to rail, or take a flaming jog/slow run down imaginary rant road to some imaginary finish line, where you get high fives from all the crowd as you head toward the finish line..... try to understand that in reality, in the complex subject of moving reality, 97% of the population is wrong..and that the design of the brain is to not work -to not think.

The human brain’s purpose is to think as little as is required and then go back to not thinking. This keeps the taxation of the brain upon the body’s resources to as low a level as possible. That’s the design spec. Rise up, come to conclusion quickly, then shut down. That’s it. To go back to unconscious autopilot on as much as possible when the moment of thought is concluded. If you pay attention, you can catch yourself doing it just about as often as you breathe.

Which is why 97% of the population is always wrong. As the first answer or initial conclusion is invariably way off. Especially since it is tied to prior conclusions and projections of the unconscious as it filters and informs the conscious mind. We truly are a square peg being pounded into a round hole, and mostly unaware of it.

Go outside, look out the window, walk down the street, and look for this. It’s right there. Everywhere.

Only 3% of the population are truly the drivers of society, if the cow 97 can be convinced in the given scenario (in whatever way). But that is all a complex mess that takes many hours and book length lectures to flesh out.

Imagine wearing a t-shirt that  says "got cow 97?". Try explaining that to the people who ask....might meet the odd interesting individual. As, at 3% ...it is going to be individuals. And they'll be tough to find. Wear the shirt, give them a sonar ping.
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A domino of thought conclusion, a nugget of a new position/view on reality... can be found in my prior post,

ie...this is why there is such a high level of correlation between pathological religious adherence, and the dogged demands for overt scientism we tend to see on audio forums.

The dark ages mid-level religious clerk unconscious mindset did not go anywhere in the past 1000 years.

They’re still here.... and devoted to ’science’ and ’engineering’. Scenarios, backdrops, and circumstance change.... but the people and their wiring have not gone anywhere.

FYI...that’s not religion and ..FYI, that’s not science. Bigtime bassackward.

Read the T-shirt. It says, "Got Cow 97?"