Consider this if you're giving impressions, opinions or reviews ...

[tima]

From Stereophile July 1993 - 25 years ago
J Gordon Holt's: Sounds Like? An Audio Glossary

You don't have to use Holt's definitions but its good to know what you're talking about and its helpful if you're somewhat consistent.

"Subjective audio is the evaluation of reproduced sound quality by ear. It is based on the novel idea that, since audio equipment is made to be listened to, what it sounds like is more important than how it measures."

The Reverse Glossary at the end is worth a read. "The discussion which follows assumes that the listener is familiar with the sound of live music as performed in a real acoustical space. Without that familiarity, there can be no basis for judging the quality of the reproduction of that sound."

A slight variation on one of my favorite Holt observations: An opinion giver unsure of his or her reputation for acuity will often inflate the audibility of something in order to demonstrate how extraordinarily perceptive he or she is.

[Jmwick]

Holts undertaking is quite impressive, but Harley's turn of phrase(s) in Sidebar 8 had me chuckling as I imagined manufacturers high fiving after reading the review of their product.

[Rob]

or this...Sidebar 7 - Corey Greenberg's Law: The best-looking components tend to sound the worst.

[Bill Hart]

The older I get, the less sure I am of anything.

[tima]

The older I get, the less sure I am of anything.

Take heart Billlbo, Descartes' skepticism was the cause of his certainty.

[Joe Pittman]

The older I get, the less sure I am of anything.

The more I know, the more sure I am that I don't know. You know?

I appreciate everyone here who share their thoughts and opinions.

[Alrainbow]

None of can be sure all the time but by using trial and error with repeatable results makes me feel better at what I claim
did he say that anywhere. ? Lol
I always said we each hear different , we each have likes and dislikes that become so over time much time
we all have critics but someone who plays or attends Lijve events is most always not like me
but I have a good reason for this as I don’t attend and no ones system is real by any large degree it’s simple to see why.
My IRS are almost 8 feet tall four columns and weigh 1500 hundred pounds yet when my son plays a real piano it’s not even close
the tone is there. The decay is there. The impact be it hard or soft is there.
So what’s not where. It’s simple it’s the dynamics and the speed of it. When my kid plays the korg it’s ok and mine is far better. But when he plays the upright he shakes the house. While I can play loud and shake the house I lack he attack and dynamics of it.
Soes anyone feel they have this cought as real ?

[Alrainbow]

The more I know, the more sure I am that I don't know. You know?

I appreciate everyone here who share their thoughts and opinions.

Joe always the right post at the right time lol

[DetroitVinylRob]

Good stuff.

Less profoundly sure of anything though I do feel such a deep level of gratefulness in general. And there was a time when I was so sure... is this acquired wisdom? Perhaps so. Having a vocabulary doesn’t hurt.

One thing for sure though, I’m decidedly a subjective listener. So much vinyl, so little time. For me, being in this hobby is all about enjoying the listening.

[tima]

"I do feel such a deep level of gratefulness in general."

Me too. For music, this wonderful hobby, and the opportunity to interact with the people who share it.

And the guild speak is fun. :-o

[EdAInWestOC]

Beware of people with answers. Anyone who is absolutely sure of anything is either selling you something, has limited experience or an extremist. The longer we live the more we learn how little we really know. Keeping an open mind is the way to learn but all of that learning tells us we aren't really experts on anything.

People are just creatures who barely know the world around them. We are just beginning on our discovery of nature, science...well everything.

How many times have you been in a group of colleagues and they introduce you as some sort of expert. Do you wonder why they think this of you? Me too.

I told my son that I am good at what I do because I work hard at it. No magic, no extra intelligence, just hard work. Work hard, respect others and keep an open mind.

[Kingrex]

Al, I'm with you. A few months back when I was tuning one of my sources. You like the way I said that, source, so no one would get upset. I would play a track such as Behind Blue Eyes, then play my acoustic guitar. It was quite revealing to have that direct comparison between recorded music and live music. The configuration that best emulated the live acoustic guitar was what I kept.