Thanks a lot for the long (and considerate answer).
On measurements, we indeed disagree. I don’t think there’s any magic left in audio, but I do think that one should demand from any manufacturer who claims magic not conceptual explanations (like a shorter signal path or this input sounds better), but bench-proven, independently verifiable explanations: they’re either engineers, or they’re magicians. If they can’t properly explain it by engineering, then the hypothesis must imperatively be that what they’re doing is magic, defined as a branch of (applied) psychology. Put rudely, no matter how suave and friendly they are, the hypothesis must be that they’re bullsh*tting unless they’re able to prove otherwise. “I tried and it also sounded better to me” is meaningless, because we can’t evacuate the hypothesis that we weren’t conned by the suave engineer.
The Gold Note example you gave is, I think, an interesting one: measurements would likely have told you if the analog out of the Gold Note is slightly hotter than the one you compared it to, or slightly better suited to your gain stages, or if its reconstruction filters were maybe more to your liking, all things that of course don’t make for a good piece or happy people at Gold Note, in part because they can be fixed for cheaper than a CD player (no matter if it can do double duties as an unusually competent DAC).
Appearances are interesting, because that’s where the “naïve friend-slash-spouse” fallacy shows its true colours. Remember the (in)famous Carver amp experiment, and imagine a HiFiBerry (or a USBridge Sig or any other sub-1000 streamer) in a dCS case, with dCS marketing behind it, while we’d put one of the higher-end solutions in a humdrum case with $99 board-level-copywriting. Would you be able to tell the difference, and don’t you think that your naïve friend-slash-spouse would fall for the “more expensive” solution ?
For those who don’t know, there’s a historical, bordering-on-the-con, example of this. Back in the day, Lexicon recased an Oppo (and there are the Goldmund, Theta and Ayre mods, but that’s another matter entirely), to interesting audio reviews: “(…) everything was presented in a smooth and detailed fashion, with good air around the various instruments, and made for great listening. (…) While this is not the best recording, the music is timeless and the Lexicon brought these aged tracks to life. (…) I was treated to an open and lush rendering of the track. Gone were the edge and glare often found in lesser players. The openness of the piano was excellent.” (etc, etc, etc).
This is by a reviewer who knew that he was dealing with what he indicated he though was essentially identical hardware… now imagine the same with a consumer who walks into the store and is treated to a bit of foot-tapping by a salesman who’s been sold pixie-dust improvements by a rep who’s been told the new product had this or that standout by the marketing team… I’d say Joe customer wouldn’t stand a chance not to get conned. Wouldn’t you agree ?
