Hi Marc,
Sorry for my late response to this.
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I think yet again you're misinterpreting those of us who are interested in the technical discussion and (wrongly, it would appear to me) painting us as 'objectivists'.
That's a fair point, and I accept it. However, I can only comment on what I see written in front of me, based on my previous experience of observing this type of behaviour, and as far as Frank goes, all the usual signs were there of a typical 'objectivist', bearing in mind that many self-proclaimed objectivists also use their ears, in the final analysis, to form their opinions in audio.
However, as I said earlier, if Frank rejects the label of an 'objectivist', I'm more than happy to stand corrected, and that also applies to you :)
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Are you suggesting that you've never made a subjective decision (of the hundreds), based on your senses, which you latterly realised was wrong because you'd mis-heard/mis-read/got caught out cos it looked different in the certain light (or what ever) etc and then when the information is presented again and you took it in differently you made a different decsion?
Of course not! I've made plenty of misjudgements and mistakes, over the years, in audio. I'm human the same as anyone else. However, I've learned from those mistakes and so don't repeat them, and instead use the information gained to strengthen the skills of my subjective analysis. Ultimately, for me, the practical experience gained from listening to 100s of different types of equipment, in many different contexts, over many years, is worth much more than the contents of any technical textbooks!
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Do you never use any other point of information /knowledge to make a judgement beyond your gut instinct?
Yes, occasionally I look at the technical specifications of some equipment, which I may have to buy blind, and those often give me an inkling of what to expect, sonically. Cartridges are a good example here. I will also take into consideration information given by those whose ears I trust. There are a few people on this forum and in 'real life' whose opinions would influence my prospective buying of equipment.
I tend to shun the opinions of so-called 'experts', whether they are media-based or otherwise, as often their ego is greater than their actual knowledge of the subject in question. Unfortunately, we're predisposed to follow the opinion of 'experts', especially when said 'experts' come from a scientific background and have great technical knowledge.
Well, I'm afraid that that doesn't impress me one iota. Those who impress me are people who can demonstrate that they have good ears, through what they write on the subject of audio and music, and ultimately, from demonstrating that they have superb sounding systems and a good grasp of how real instruments and voices sound, un-amplified, in order to use this as an effective benchmark from which to judge how they are reproduced through a hi-fi system.
Science and measurements will only ever tell us so much about audio. I'm a free-thinker who follows my own path, and ultimately will always trust my ears.
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I'm not advocating using test equipment to test a hifi setup I'm suggesting using it to test the quality of (and potentially improve) my own subjective judgements!
That's fine - I understand that. However, I rarely find that necessary. The only test equipment I use on a regular basis is a stylus pressure gauge and an alignment protractor - my ears are plenty good enough to judge anything else I may need to know! ;)
Marco.