My response to "Boycott the sub-forum"

[DuckToller]

2 hours ago, Albrecht said:

does that necessarily lead to the next step in the objective thought process that comparative listeners are irrational "fools" that objectivists should not be made to suffer?

@Albrecht
Jim,
People in this hobby have a undisputed tendency to act less rational than i.e their SO. I wouldn't call that irrational. 😉
But that does not mean they are fools, and there is no need made to suffer anyone, be it subjectivists or objectivist.
There are unkind people at both camps, and their civility (or the lack thereof) had been much to often a disruptive factor.

From my point of view, it is important to find a common understanding that perceived sq differences related to audio gear during comparative listenings are what they are: sq differences perceived by one person or a group under certain conditions.
Most of them not qualified (the conditions, not the people) to be regarded as "universally valid" in the objective sense (therefore the term controlled environment, afaik). At least from the viewpoints of people, who are regarded as objectivists.

Personally, I wouldn't care about the question of validity if the system sounds extraordinarily good!
If the result makes you and me happy and you are or I am willing to pay the price for it, everthing should be fine.
In my view, these people - enjoying our hobby that way - are blessed, and I have no intention to crash their party (not my personal style). IMHO, it is even even better, if these perceived effects are repeatable for the individuals, and everything is just perfect and acceptable.

There is just no "universal validity" deriving from that experience, like the the follwing one: At a level of 5% humidity you won't find roses growing in the desert. At that point starts the divide and the dispute.
This point may be even more important for some people than the happiness/satisfaction about their perceived sound quality. The core problem of understanding/acceptance starts when the one person/the  people try to create the rule that what they experienced has changed into a proven fact with "universal validity", which in turn could prove problematically, especially in discussions with people who doubt it.

In reverse, for some people it iseems to be more important to insist that their findings create "universal validity" and to have a saying on everything rather than listen to their system and accept different opinions or just keeping calm. That's a recipe for disaster, and imho that has unfortunately proven valid for both poles in our hobby, with a tendency that the objective campers have spoiled the fun of the majority. Often, I'd guess, these forms of disputes are as well perceived as attacks on personal integrity.

For myself, I would be even more interested to share their experience than to challenge them, as I do my listening (tests) as well sighted.  In my case, I try avoid presenting my own findings/perceptions as the gold standard, and I refer to them as perceptions and impressions. I just can't exclude that I can be proved wrong. Though, I try to be honest and prefer the use of systematic approaches.
In order to give people an idea about a product I review, I try to create situations, i.e. describing my personal perception of specific music with the reviewed gear, with which they can connect to (or not). To which extent these findings may correspond with their own perceptions is a questions of theirs. Some findings are obvious, others are more questionable and some are little in their peculiarity. IMHO, if we are descriptive, we should take care, that we do not overstate our importance plus the "universal validity" of our findings.

I find it always interesting to learn/reflect on my own confirmation bias, which definitely exists. I.E., for the review in progress, using a product with advanced DSP function, I have tested about 11 configurations to achieve peu a peu acceptable results, even I knew from the settings, that It would/should be possible, I was very much frustrated during the process and more than pleased with the final result. Which gives me some believe/confirmation that I can discern certain audible differences with my ears and approaches. Though, I have made measurements for every step in the process with sighted listening results beforehand.
 

Best, Tom