It does make you look like a crazy person, I also always do it when alone 
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Yes I did some reading on house curve also. First I thought that making the response look flat was the correct way but actually if your speaker measures flat in an anechoic chamber, it will always have a slightly downwards rolling āhouse curveā when you place it in an average room (without EQ). Itās just the way how the sound behaves in ānormalā conditions. Thatās why the use of house curve is recommended. This post pretty much covers the differences between house curves. The whole thread is quite useful.
And room correction can be a rabbit hole. I used to think the same way about DSP. I first had to use it on my system back in 2019 when I went active with ATCās. Active speakers surprisingly had so much more reach and power that they suddenly woke the room modes in my apartment. Even though I changed from exactly the same speaker, it was just passive version with Naim amplification before. First I used Linn Space Optimisation but after finally measuring my setup and also the effects of Linn SO, I can say that doing the DSP with mic + REW gave much more accurate and better results.
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I have a pretty good room but I find DIRAC improves it noticeably, a tiny bit of extra bass from my subs makes my ears happier still.
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Iām still standing very firmly in my lead boots in the objectivistsā camp!
Measurements are objective, drawing conclusions from measurement about how it sounds is very much subjective though.
But I have a feeling a lot of people maybe donāt have their HiFi very well set up, or maybe just use not-so-high quality stuff. In those cases, better power, switches, etc wonāt do very much if anything.
Let me take an example: I have a mid-level system myself (dual NCore NC500 power amps, RME ADI-2 fs DAC, streaming with fiber and decent streamer, Volent VL-2 Paragon speakers), and lots of focus on digital room correction and also real acoustic treatment. When I listen to āMan in the black coatā by Bob Dylan I hear the first guitar over 1 meter to the left of the left speaker, and 1 meter in front. Then comes the guitar 1 meter to the right of the right speaker and about 0.5 meters in front. And so on.
Itās almost magical how the sound seems to start out of thin air, a real sound illusion.
If I remove my fiber and use copper TP (ethernet cable) directly into the streamer, itās easy to hear in the example above how it affects the soundstage: more narrow and less invisible speakers. Other changes as well like slightly less clarity, but soundstage is a very good benchmark.
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How do you define this though? Because price-tag has little bearing on a piece of equipmentās ability to reproduce an audio signal. Thereās a lot of expensive stuff around that falls down pretty hard on the test bench.
Measurements tell us all we need to know about source equipment and speakers can be similarly measured with the right gear (though an APx555 and the Klippel system are well out of the reach of most individuals).
Iām intrigued by your experience with regard to fibre vs copper. Is your copper cable shielded? Can you tell the difference if someone switches between them unsighted?
Not looking to criticise, just understand from a purely scientific standpoint
According to measurement yes, but often not according to ears. You usually get what you pay for, in HiFi as well as in other areas, but with a diminishing return.
I havenāt tested but I think so. Still, even if there are differences changes in digital chain tends to be rather subtle. Another good song to listen to for digital changes is Joan Arc by Jennifer Warnes, the chimes in the beginning. Its easy to hear harshness and lack of ābodyā if you for example use an RPi4 as streamer.
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Iām afraid this is where we disagree. āAccording to earsā is pure subjectivism.
If someone can pick two, level-matched, similarly measuring components apart reliably and repeatably in a blind listening test, Iāll eat my hat live on the internet.
Boutique hifi equipment costs do not reflect audio quality. Much of the cost is swallowed up in the low production volumes. R&D, design, tooling and manufacturing costs are significantly higher per unit when you donāt manufacture in large volumes. Itās simple economies of scale. Also, the more a piece of equipment costs to make, the larger the sales margin in cash (not % terms). You can easily end up with 2 similar pieces of equipment (in terms of build and BoM) where one costs 4x the other purely due to manufacturing volumes.
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Yes, but that is no difference than in other areas, for example cars. A Rolls Royce is hardly worth 10 BMWs for example.
And in my opinion, the most objective way to determine how something sounds is by listening, just as the most objective way to determine the taste is by tasting, or determining how something looks is by looking. Measurements can be a guideline at most, nothing more.
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I think the point is that they do the tests without preconceived ideas. They often taste test, for example tomato sauce on the public with unmarked pots. Itās amazing how often the ācheap crapā from Aldi wins out over the posh stuff to the amazement of the consumer.
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I did some new readings for HAF yesterday as my Room has changed around since I last got them done so not been using them for some time. Also did some for my office setup which does suffer badly. Interested to what he comes up with I donāt have the inclination or time to mess with REW, when I did it sounded awful compared to what I got from Thierry.
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Iāve just been doing some reading on the crosstalk filters. They seem to be aimed primarily at listening environments where 60Ā° placement of the speakers isnāt possible, or am I missing something?
Just checked mine with a laser measure and did a little bit of trig. - 62.4Ā° placement in hereā¦
As long as youāre at it describing soundstage positions in centimeters, it would be logical to quantity the āmore narrowā in centimeters also - just so thereās a scale to your assertion.
Genuinely interested!
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Same here listening to an Allo transport into Meridian active speakers. A network change in January resulted in a better defined, 3D soundstage that extends beyond the speakers such that Iām no longer hearing boxes and drivers, just musicians arranged in space by the recording engineers.
This illusion collapses when I connect the same Roon endpoint and speakers to a different switch.
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Even with an equilateral triangle for my listening position, the odd-shaped surrounding room Iām in, with stone and glass surfaces, distorts the sound. Thierryās HAF filters make an appreciable difference for very few dollars (as long as you are willing to measure with a calibrated microphone).
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Iām not sure tbh, I mentioned it as John said he got a much better soundstage with it. I should get my new filters later today.
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If you are using ported speakers, ask Thierry about his experiments with addressing cabinet-related phase issues, in addition to the room correction you measured for.
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Sealed units for me. ProAc Tablette 10 Signatures. They sound great to me without any DSP but I know I have some room modes that boost bass excessively in one region and some nulls and it does just add the icing on the cake.
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1 meter and 0.5 meter are rough numbers, not cm precision. Its not like I measured But it shrunk about 2 dm on the left side (give or take).
A good way to check width of soundstage is to close your eyes, look in the direction the sound comes from then open eyes and ābookmarkā the spot you looked at.