Using your head to listen!
On the one hand, there is the argument that you need double blind tests and exquisitely detailed measurements to have a valid opinion on how a speaker sounds.
On the other hand is the notion that people are able to recognize good sound when they hear it. Yes there’s a rage of preference, but it falls within definable parameters.
The argument against “use your ears” is based around the studied and proven existence of bias, and in particular sighted bias. But also, bias that comes from perception based on price.
It is *not* based around the idea that you can’t tell good sound when you hear it. There is such a thing as an objectively good sounding speaker, and people are able to recognize this without needing to measure the speaker. The fun stuff is correlating listening with measurements. Blind A/B testing can be very revealing.
But more often than I wish was the case, both measurements and subjective impressions get amplified, warped and exaggerated by marketing folks, salespeople, reviewers and yes, excitable owners posting in public forums and most people have no idea what to make of it all.
