Audiophiles are Full of Crap and I can Prove It!

Audio files are full of crap. And I can

prove it kind of. Magazine reviews,

YouTube reviews, measurements, me, we're

all full of it. For decades, we've

argued about cables, distortion numbers,

frequency responses, and that a magic

box is going to be the perfect magic box

for you that plugs into the wall and

makes sound. This isn't a rant. It's a

bit of a tearown for the entire system.

We're going to talk about how your brain

hears sound, why your room may be more

important than your actual equipment,

why reviewers disagree, and what blind

testing actually proves, and why sound

isn't the whole story. Sit down, grab a

cup of coffee, and let's talk about why

audio files are full of crap, and I'm

going to prove it. Do you know what this

is? Of course you do. It's a microphone.

This little thing has more to do with

arguments when it comes to being an

audio file and arguing over what sounds

best than anything else. But here's the

problem. This thing

is not connected to this thing. Psycho

acoustics is the science that studies

how the brain interprets sound waves,

not just records them. Your ears and

your brain work together to determine

what you hear. Your ears are not a

microphone that just dumps data into a

spreadsheet. Things like pitch,

loudness, timber are something that your

brain interprets. It's not your brain

going to a file and just grabbing the

data. They are perceived qualities based

on neural processing. For example,

studies show that two people can hear

the same thing in the same room with the

same music and say that it sounds

different. pitch, loudness, all of it.

And that's what the research is all

about because your brain is doing all of

the signal processing. It accounts for

loudness biases and even interprets

music based on past experiences. Think

about it as everyone getting a Lego set.

Same parts, same pieces, same colors.

Most people, unless they have

directions, are going to come up with a

different creation. Maybe it's a giraffe

driving a Saab, or maybe it's a wizard

creating potions. So, when someone says,

"This sounds better," what they're

really saying is, "My brain prefers this

one in this certain circumstance, on

this certain day, at this certain time,

with this certain humidity, smelling the

cinnamon roll Yankee candle that's lit,

because you guessed it, smell can

influence how we hear things.

This shoe box filled with action figures

is where the sound really lives. This is

a representation of your room. You get

to choose your own adventure, though. I

don't know what superhero you are. Sound

does not all travel in a straight line

to your ears from the speakers. When a

speaker plays, you hear the direct sound

first, but you also hear all the sound

that's being reflected off of all of the

surfaces. They're separate echoes. Now

those reflections fuse with the direct

sound and that changes how clear, how

wide, how loud the music sounds. It's

known as the precedence effect. The

first sound determines where you, the

listener, thinks the sound is coming

from, but the reflections reshape what

you perceive and therefore hear. If you

want to test this yourself, turn on your

stereo and move a little bit and see how

the sound changes. Room acoustics

research consistently shows that all

those reflections change everything.

Tonal balance, perceived loudness, width

of the sound stage, clarity in the

highs, clarity in the mids, clarity in

the lows. And that is the part that most

people miss. The room is effectively

equalizing your speakers whether or not

you want it to. Your brain is also

interpreting that sound. So, two people

can be disagreeing because they're

actually hearing two different speakers.

This part is where the comment section

is going to light up like a Christmas

tree shoved into a Waffle House about

2:00 a.m. Reviewers aren't lying.

They're just saying what they hear. And

that matters because there is no such

thing as a universal listener. It's all

true at the same time. I know that's

maddening because our hearing humans, it

varies widely from person to person.

Maybe you were forced into indentured

servitude because you grew up on a farm

in Nebraska and then you served on a

submarine. Maybe you went to a lot of

concerts without hearing protection. All

humans hearing differs in perceived

volume, frequency sensitivity, temporal

resolution, spatial perception, and god

forbid you have serious mental health

issues cuz then you're going to hear

stuff all over the place that's maybe

not even there.

I see dead people and I have

superpowers.

And that's before we even talk about

hearing loss. Age related hearing loss

can affect high frequencies quite a bit.

So when one reviewer hears detail and

the other one hears brightness, they're

not wrong. Different perceptual outcomes

from different auditory systems. And

yes, that includes me. I can't stand a

tilt upwards in the upper mid-range.

It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to

me. Some people may love that though

because there's a lot of dialogue in

that region. That's why [clears throat]

there will never be an audio file

consensus. I would imagine that most

audio reviewers are not being dishonest

on purpose unless they're getting paid a

little bit under the rug. the speaker

money truck is backing up into their

driveway and dumping all that sweet

sweet speaker money. The takeaway is

that perception of the music, which is

unique to everyone, is unique to

everyone. Measurements aren't useless

and reviewers aren't trying to scam you.

They're just not magic and not

universal. Personally, I think

measurements are good at catching things

that probably aren't good and maybe have

the potential to be good. Distortion,

weird frequency responses, ringing,

resonance designs that are considered to

be bad with a caveat. There are some

speakers out there that maybe use

cabinet resonance to their advantage.

Some speakers have dips at certain

frequencies, spikes at others.

Sometimes that's designed in. However,

by trying to pick the winners and

identify the losers, I think everybody

is missing the point. Think of

measurements as checking Yelp for health

code violations. They won't tell you if

the burger is awesome, but they will

tell you if the kitchen has rats.

Reviewers kind of do the same thing. But

here's the deal. Even if the kitchen has

rats, sometimes the burgers are still

amazing. But maybe you don't like a

large cheeseto meat ratio. Maybe you

like a larger meat to cheese ratio.

Doesn't mean you're wrong. It's about

taste and your tolerance for vermin.

Reviewers describe what they hear or

what they measure. And sometimes they

combine the two. But the takeaway is

that's one person with their preferences

in their room

with their music with their preconceived

conceptions of what a good speaker or

product should be. If you've listened to

a specific speaker and you've watched a

specific review and that reviewer lines

up with what your experience is, well

then maybe that's the reviewer for you.

Even though you're not listening to the

same speaker in the same room with the

same music at the same time, the

information can be useful. It can help

narrow the field, but it cannot tell you

exactly what you're going to hear. And I

would imagine most reviewers are trying

really hard, being really thorough, but

that's not how human hearing works. So,

when people are treating measurements

like final verdicts and reviewers like

kingmakers, you're kind of asking those

tools and those humans to do something.

Well, that's impossible to do. It's the

equivalent of using a tape measure to

determine which couch you're going to

buy. It's useful because you'll figure

out if it even fits in your room, but it

ain't going to tell you how comfortable

it is. If how something sounds is all

that matters, then blind testing should

solve everything, right? Because in a

blind test, the listener doesn't know

what is playing. levels are matched.

Switching is fast. All those pesky

visual cues are removed because things

like sight or price, by the way, I sell

these awesome cheap audio man wallets.

Link in the description for my store.

Anyway, things like sight, price,

expectations all go into what you

perceive the music to sound like. When

those cues are taken away, people become

a lot less confident and most of the

time a lot more consistent. In many

situations, the differences that seemed

obvious before are a little bit less

obvious, and that is expected. In

layman's terms, your brain is quite easy

to influence. If you know something is

expensive or what brand it is, and you

like expensive, and that brand, chances

are it's going to sound better. Your

brain starts to fill in the gaps before

the sound even hits your ears. Remember

the Pepsi challenge? People didn't know,

was it Coke or was it Pepsi? They take

the drink and they say, "I like this one

better." However, that test only

revealed what somebody liked in that

moment at the state fair or wherever it

was. Temperature, time, pressure, and

initial impressions doesn't always mean

it's the right drink for you long term.

I heard that Pepsi was a little bit more

sugary. So on the initial

people like Pepsi better. Long term they

may not like all of that sweetness. Same

thing is true for speakers. You listen

to a speaker initially. Woo it's got a

little sizzle on top. It's got a little

bit more clarity. However, that clarity

could turn into fatigue later on. The

point is, even in blind testing, it only

gives you a snapshot of what your

preference was at that

specific moment, in that specific

circumstance. And since the Pepsi

challenge was based on taste, the same

holds true for blind testing. Therefore,

audio and drinks that can lead to type 2

diabetes are closely related. There are

things that blind testing can never

reveal. And the problem is most

reviewers think it's all about the sound

and it's not all about the sound. I talk

about it all of the time. Look at the

Advanced Paris. The enjoyment that one

has while listening to music, well,

sound is one part of that. How something

looks is another part of it. And for me,

that's huge. Even background noise like

an AC or a fan going on impacts how much

you enjoy the music. Throw in some

brands there, some preconceived ideas

that you have about the brand, and it

starts to get real complicated really

quickly. So, let's pause for a moment.

This is

isn't audio file nonsense. This is just

how humans work. We're humans. We're not

a bunch of robots with microphones for

our ears. We're nuanced and complicated

creatures. Think of this as a redacted

government document. After a while, you

stare out at all those blank lines. Your

brain starts to fill in the missing

information. There's also ritual

involved with listening to your music.

If you sit in the same chair, if it's

something that you do to unwind at the

end of the day, well, then your brain is

already thinking, "This is going to be

quite enjoyable." And it is because

listening to music intentionally is

awesome. Throw in there a little story

about the background of the brand or the

people that are making the products that

you're listening to. It's a convoluted

mess and that's okay. You might be a

Chevy guy. You might be a crazy Mopar

guy. And we shall die on that hill. As

we should. Audio files aren't stupid.

They're just full of crap. Just kidding.

Reviewers aren't stupid. They're not

lying. They're just full of crap.

Because human hearing is subjective.

experiences are varied. People's rooms

are different. The level of importance

that one places on how something looks,

how important a brand is, how important

the story behind the product is, makes a

big difference, but they all make a

difference. One of my patrons, Steve, is

a huge Macintosh fan. That was something

that he aspired to his whole life. So

now he has Macintosh gear because that

brand's important to him. Maybe your

uncle had Morance growing up as a kid.

So Morance is probably the way to go.

The good news is Macintosh sounds good.

Morance sounds good. And even if it

doesn't sound good to one person, it

still probably sounds good to you. And

that's the important part. And

ironically, how something sounds and

measures is not important. The problem

isn't that people hear different things.

The problem is people pretending like it

doesn't. and crazy reviewers telling

people what they should like, pushing

our will on the masses, that if you just

buy this thing that I like, all the

arguments will stop because I am the

definitive judge on what actually sounds

good and you'll never have an urge to

buy anything again, which is absurd. My

holy grail is not your holy grail. My

room is not your room. My experiences

are not your experiences. People being

in different moods also affects how

something sounds to you. And that's the

point. And it's wonderful because we

have so many different choices at so

many different price points. And while

it might be an inconvenient truth

because you actually have to try out

different things, you actually have to

do a little bit of self-reflection to

discover what is important to you. And

that takes time. It's a journey. That's

what's wonderful about this hobby. It is

a journey. Your preferences might even

change, you know, because of our brains.

It's like coffee or cheeseburgers or

glazed donuts. We all have a preference

and none of us are wrong. If you like

this video, check out this video I put

up here that YouTube wants you to watch

because it's awesome.

Or this other video right here. Thanks

for watching.