SQ - Is it subjective?
Seems like many are being a bit pessimistic. Judges, like real audio product testers have experience in listening and undestanding and knowing what accurate audio reproduction is. While many may have some personal biases towards a particular sound, I am sure that they are able to remove that bias when judging.
Their experience allows them to know what good and bad frequency response is and know what distortion, and cone break up sounds like, and from that knowledge they can properly judge the sound quality of a system.
It is like a beauty contest... Most guys in here know a good looking woman when we see one.. We may have our preferences for blonds, brunettes, breast size, and all the different things that we find individually attractive in a womam, but we would be able to decide on a set of general criteria to judge them on and in the end, when all the points are added up and Miss Canada (this is a Canadian forum afterall! ) is chosen... no one would really argue that she is not a very beautiful woman... and one that we would all like to f*&$... I mean be friends with.
lets end this thread on that!
Their experience allows them to know what good and bad frequency response is and know what distortion, and cone break up sounds like, and from that knowledge they can properly judge the sound quality of a system.
It is like a beauty contest... Most guys in here know a good looking woman when we see one.. We may have our preferences for blonds, brunettes, breast size, and all the different things that we find individually attractive in a womam, but we would be able to decide on a set of general criteria to judge them on and in the end, when all the points are added up and Miss Canada (this is a Canadian forum afterall! ) is chosen... no one would really argue that she is not a very beautiful woman... and one that we would all like to f*&$... I mean be friends with.
lets end this thread on that!
Last edited by zoomer; Jan 6, 2010 at 04:27 PM.
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Seems like many are being a bit pessimistic. Judges, like real audio product testers have experience in listening and undestanding and knowing what accurate audio reproduction is. While many may have some personal biases towards a particular sound, I am sure that they are able to remove that bias when judging.
Their experience allows them to know what good and bad frequency response is and know what distortion, and cone break up sounds like, and from that knowledge they can properly judge the sound quality of a system.
It is like a beauty contest... Most guys in here know a good looking woman when we see one.. We may have our preferences for blonds, brunettes, breast size, and all the different things that we find individually attractive in a womam, but we would be able to decide on a set of general criteria to judge them on and in the end, when all the points are added up and Miss Canada (this is a Canadian forum afterall! ) is chosen... no one would really argue that she is not a very beautiful woman... and one that we would all like to f*&$... I mean be friends with.
lets end this thread on that!
Their experience allows them to know what good and bad frequency response is and know what distortion, and cone break up sounds like, and from that knowledge they can properly judge the sound quality of a system.
It is like a beauty contest... Most guys in here know a good looking woman when we see one.. We may have our preferences for blonds, brunettes, breast size, and all the different things that we find individually attractive in a womam, but we would be able to decide on a set of general criteria to judge them on and in the end, when all the points are added up and Miss Canada (this is a Canadian forum afterall! ) is chosen... no one would really argue that she is not a very beautiful woman... and one that we would all like to f*&$... I mean be friends with.
lets end this thread on that!
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Zoomer - an excellent summation. Truly, the best judges are indeed well trained for what to listen for and what 'good sound' is and are able to ignore personal bias.
I agree with SQL Monte however that, unfortunately, we often run into judges that do not perform at this level. The way I always look at it though is that it is more important for a judge to be consistent rather than perfect.
I agree with SQL Monte however that, unfortunately, we often run into judges that do not perform at this level. The way I always look at it though is that it is more important for a judge to be consistent rather than perfect.
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Zoomer - an excellent summation. Truly, the best judges are indeed well trained for what to listen for and what 'good sound' is and are able to ignore personal bias.
I agree with SQL Monte however that, unfortunately, we often run into judges that do not perform at this level. The way I always look at it though is that it is more important for a judge to be consistent rather than perfect.
I agree with SQL Monte however that, unfortunately, we often run into judges that do not perform at this level. The way I always look at it though is that it is more important for a judge to be consistent rather than perfect.
sound engineers...it's their creation that we're trying to reproduce perfectly...so the best SQ judge would be the sound engineer for that track being played. Everyone else's opinion is just an opinion, only the engineer knows what he/she intended it to sound like. These debates always remind me of an interview I conducted with an author of a well critiqued novel many years ago. I remember mentioning that many felt his story's underlying message was about one thing, and his response was," bull sh*t!, I never had any thoughts about that when I wrote it." Point is; sometimes we look a little too deep for things that may not even exist. I guess with SQ, you use your ears and maybe your friends or groups of friends ( organized or otherwise) to help you find perfection...maybe you'll never find it but you should have fun looking, when it stops being fun...maybe it's time for another obsession.
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Sound engineers??? Flags up 
Engineers operate, maintain, and improve the equipment used to generate, record, alter, and reproduce sound. In music, it is the artist that determines what the track will sound like. Any engineer knows that an anechoic chamber is the optimal recording space, but if the artist is looking for a garage sound, or a hall sound, it's the engineer's job to make it sound that way. The quality of the recording equipment on it's own will colour the sound. An accurate reproduction should sound like you are there, in the room while the music is being recorded. A judges job is to determine how closely your equipment resembles the original recording, hence why you use the exact same disc for each and every competitor. Whether you're a judge or an engineer, it is simply not feasable for any number of people to be at every single recording session to hear exactly what it sounds like at ground zero. The only possible way I can see SQ getting less subjective is if someone figures out how to implement speach recognition technology to read the original recording and compare it to what is heard via a mic in the car
Engineers operate, maintain, and improve the equipment used to generate, record, alter, and reproduce sound. In music, it is the artist that determines what the track will sound like. Any engineer knows that an anechoic chamber is the optimal recording space, but if the artist is looking for a garage sound, or a hall sound, it's the engineer's job to make it sound that way. The quality of the recording equipment on it's own will colour the sound. An accurate reproduction should sound like you are there, in the room while the music is being recorded. A judges job is to determine how closely your equipment resembles the original recording, hence why you use the exact same disc for each and every competitor. Whether you're a judge or an engineer, it is simply not feasable for any number of people to be at every single recording session to hear exactly what it sounds like at ground zero. The only possible way I can see SQ getting less subjective is if someone figures out how to implement speach recognition technology to read the original recording and compare it to what is heard via a mic in the car
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Haha, they locked the thread on the other board where we were having this "discussion." And i've been hit with repeated negative rep
Man, some people are just lame! The ironic part of it all is the main one who was disagreeing with me on the fact that SQ is subjective is the same guy who said himself that "there is no real way to measure SQ." What a tool!!
