I recently posted a subjective review of LP12 mods "
Stack Audio SERENE LP12 upgrades, and entirely subjective opinion", because, well, as far as I know nobody measures these things, and since it isn't yet another bloody DAC nobody seems interested in measuring these things either. Also the old school of demo at a retailer works for me when it is not possible to try it in your own system. I am pleased to report zero trolls appeared to tell me I was a fool for using my ears.
I did hit the obvious snag that, being a simple chap, not prone to exaggeration (though we all trip over our excitment sometimes and post overly positive or negative comments, me too I am sure), that at least one contributor thought the upgrades must be rubbish as I had not use exagerated language to show my complete excitement and pleasure. So here is the rub. Subjective is not only different for each person and their taste, dependant on system interactions, etc., it is also dependant on the wordsmith that is trying to convey their impression of music reproduction. Some of us have shared reference points in hifi and a shared first language so stand a chance of providing a sensible comparison, but actually many of us on here do not have English as a first language, or do but aren't that good at putting in to words what we hear or indeed anything, and do not have shared reference points. Don't get me wrong I like the international nature of music and hifi, this is not a dig at less literate nor overseas contributors one bit. It is not always easy to know what to make of some of the posts on here. One person says "clear night and day difference, huge improvement, massive change, delighted" perhaps for the same thing I express as "a difference I could hear and liked". This, for me, is where subjectivism falls down. Oh and I seem to disagree with almost everybody on here that a Avondale TPR4 is the most wonderful mod evvvveeeeer. Yes I have one, and have compared it in my system to a standard Hicap, and an RSL ZapCap (which is the best to my ears). So now what? All my posts must be wrong?
While measurements can help spot something that may sound good in one context but poor in another, where something is just not technically correct or perhaps a bit odd so you need to be aware you are taking something a bit different on that may or may not work in your system and may or may not lead you down one route and limit where you can go, they typically can't tell you if you will like something. Measurements can show you, probably, when a piece of kit is just not really up to scratch, but most DACs, for example, measure so well that the differences may be inaudible. ASR and their SINAD listing of DACs is a good example where I feel objectivists trip over themselves too, I mean, so many DACs for a few hundred £ to many thousands all with SINAD so high that it is irrelevant for almost all discussions, so I just buy the cheapest right? Because that is all there is to it? No I don't think so either.
I suspect there are more folk like me, that look at measurements
and listen with their own ears, ideally in their own system, and make their own mind up than there are either pure subjectivists or objectivists on here. I bet even pure objectivists listen before they buy big
My experience is that generally, and especially in the diy area, we all get along well, there are some extremely helpful contributors, there are a few I can spot (I will name no naims) that will jump on every thread and tell you your speakers are rubbish, your amps suck, your turntable sucks, a better system costs several orders of magnitude less than you spent, you need to spend several orders of magnitude more to get what you want, your DAC is absolutely perfect as they all sound the same, fuses costing thousands massively improve systems costing less, while expensive cables are pivotal to your enjoyment of music, yeah, if you say so.
