Technical specs on measurements

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Prashell

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problem with technical specs on audio equipment is that we, still, have absolutelo no idea what they say, except of course the computer speakers powered by a wall wart and sticker that says 200w PMPO, then we know that is just another lie.

But we can find, for instance, two power amps, with absolutely the same specs regarding all the different kinds of distortion, bandwidth, slew rate, damping factor (output impedance), but connected up and used they sound extremely different, there is no way whatsoever we can tell from specs how any audio product sounds.

I do agree that checking the power output in 8,4,2 ohms tells if the power supply is well designed and of correct dimension.
 
I agree that no spec or measurement will tell you how something sounds. To me the only spec that has some meaning is the sensitivity of a speaker so you may get an idea of how much power you may want. Still has nothing of how it sounds let alone if it's a sound you may even like.
 
A few years ago, there was a blog about how a major Japanese hi-fi manufacture would write specs differently for the different price point lines. Even thou the internal circuits were the same.

In pro audio, you might see one brand's specs about the best unit that they could find in the warehouse and the moon was in the right position. While another brand's spec, all the units exceed it with miles to spare.

Only compare independent measurements done by the same person with the same test equipment.
 
I don’t pay much attention to tech specs when buying audio equipment. It’s not that I don’t understand them, but specs don’t give me much insight into how something is going to sound in my system. If I like what I hear then the specs don’t sway my decision.
 
After building a Pass Labs B1 pre-buffer, I can see how gear may have similar specs and sound different. I tried different caps of the same values in it and it was an eye opening experience to say the least. There were significant differences in sound.
 
This is a complex subject. I have an Audio Precison System 222 so am fairly experienced with measurements and trying to correlate them to listening. If two things measure the same and sound different then we are not measuring the right things. For example, if you have two amplifiers that both measure 0.005% THD+N, the next question you’d want to ask is what’s the spectral distribution of the distortion, how does it change vs frequency and how does it change with power output? I also know that my own auditory perception changes based on time of day, the weather, and recent noise exposure, especially riding in a car.
 
Does AJ Soundfield post around here? I was told he knows a lot about measurements.
 
Prashell said:
Does AJ Soundfield post around here? I was told he knows a lot about measurements.
Click to expand...

Just say something about how much you love stereo over multi-channel music and he will show up on your thread.
 
This goes all the way back to Julian Hirsch at Stereo Review Magazine for me. Julian was the main man at Stereo Review magazine which was the largest publication related to audio at the time. He believed that any amp that measured the same would sound the same. Today we know that there are many things that can affect this. Design and components has advanced greatly. Curl's low noise circuits was one of the big breakthroughs.
 
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