 My previous video covering the damping factor of an amplifier brought some comments about where the tight loads were the thing to go for. It appears there is not one absolute sound to go for. And if so, what is the value of my reviews? Interpreting sound is something we humans start to learn when we are very young. And that process keeps going on, although the pace tends to slowly reduce when we get older. It is generally accepted that our musical taste develops most during our adolescence and a bit beyond. Your music taste therefore tells much about the social environment you were in during that time. I am convinced that the taste for sound develops in a similar way as the music taste. This means that, like music, the development of our taste for sound depends on where you grew up and what social life you had. This view is supported by the current popularity of headphones and in-ear listening. For over the last two decades or more, many families went for the tiny satellite speakers with separate woofer and these systems, in contrast to what the ads say, are far from immersive and usually placed in a way that further reduces the sound quality. Youngsters noticed that even the in-ears that came with their phone sounded better. Furthermore, many youngsters visit rock concerts and festivals where loud sound levels prevail. There they learn that higher sound levels can increase the amount of detail you hear. They experience that loud levels reduce stress since due to higher levels of low frequency sound, the brain releases and orphans. These are known for producing in euphoric state. Youngsters learn this way that loud music is rewarding and they don't realize noise-induced hearing loss might be the next station. All in all, it might be clear that the current young generation is living in a completely different sound environment than my generation. Still there's a number of young people that, reaching the adult stage, start appreciating quality sound. Let me once more compare it to food. Producers of food know that the human brain is triggered by fat, sugar and salt, hence the popularity of hamburgers, fries and the like. But the same three base triggers are also hidden in food that looks like healthy food. Convenience is a factor here too. A quick stop at a hamburger restaurant is far more convenient than cooking a healthy dish at home. Still there is a group of people that appreciate healthy food. It is the same with audio. Most people use mp3s to drive their headphones or in-ears at high level or stream to their headphones or stereo over bluetooth. In that case the original recording is first converted to mp3, thrown away a certain level of detail, then at playback converted back to uncompressed to compress again using the bluetooth compression scheme that throws away another certain level of detail. It's like defrosting a deep-freezed pizza, freezing it again and then warming it up in the microwave. It is the convenience that drives the Spotify market. That plus the fact that we humans are insatiable and then convenience becomes an even bigger factor. Good sushi is rather healthy but I have a tendency to eat too much of it. It's with audio that I have learned to play music at a sensible level. Even when evaluating equipment I will not play louder than HDB SPLA weighted. Given the fact that you watch my videos you might belong to the group of Goomans that do appreciate good sound. But what is good sound? The lowest might be the most clear example. When in a concert hall you won't hear the extremely tight bass you might hear in a hi-fi demo. This can be due to the distance between you and the orchestra, due to the ratio between the direct sound and the reflected sound but usually both. It is up to the producer and sound engineer to decide to what degree those factors are included in the recording. With jazz the venues often are less optimized, especially if amplified instruments are used. So you might be closer to the band but the room plays an even bigger role here. With rock concerts the venues can be very large and can even be outdoors. Here the high sound pressure level and reflections from neighboring buildings can cause echoes while delay stacks further down the field can have their effects too. So if live sound is your reference, a tight bass can't be your goal. The reality is that most people never or seldom visit concerts. Here the sound they refer to is a sound they have learned to be their reference during their young years. That stereo and those played in their social surroundings. People of my age learned the true sound to be the ultra-dry studio sound of, for instance, Steely Dan or the manipulated drums of Phil Collins or the tingle-tingle 12 string guitar in Hotel California. Don't get me wrong, those are fine pieces of art, immensely appreciated by me, but they don't refer to natural sound. The people the age of my children around 40 might have grown up with the early dance music, where the pumped up bass is characteristic. We now know why and all things. Not that this was enough given the pills that I consumed at dance parties. Again, what is the reference? And even more to the point, what is the value of reviews then? For me a good review gives the viewer a fair impression of how well the device on the test performs. If you have reviewed many pieces of equipment, you'll learn what information is hidden in recordings and it is fair to assume that equipment that lets you hear more details without colouring the sound is of higher quality. Over time you learn to identify all kinds of artefacts and you learn tricks that let you identify problems. I have also learned that tricks that work for me don't work for others. The small publishing company I run for 21 years hired several very experienced listeners as reviewers and they each had their own tricks and preferences. But what we had in common was the ability to classify equipment, both domestic and professional. I can therefore assure you no single piece of equipment is perfect. There is of course a huge difference between a €350 network player and one costing 40 times that amount. What I can't judge is whether the extra money is an offer you are willing or able to pay. I once had a Romanian viewer that wanted a very firm assurance from me on a €150 DAC. It appeared that his monthly income was only €200. From that he had to pay his rent, food and clothing too. I also know a man that ordered a €1500 power supply as a side dish for his very expensive music server. This is why I started using the three reference setups. One sub €1,000 setup, one setup of around €4,000 and one now adding up to around €25,000. They are admittedly coarse references but for many they are sufficiently clear. In my view describing in great detail your experiences in a given setup as reference to others is pointless. It only describes the emotions of the reviewer caused by his choice of music, the listening condition he has and judged on his equipment in his room with his state of mind at that moment. We have already discussed the reproduction of lows and how that can be experienced differently by different persons. The same goes for mids and highs. Good tube amps are judged by some to be somewhat soft focused while others might find a good solid state amp to be slightly aggressive. But also within the solid state amps there are clear differences. The Mark Levinson amps I know are fast and upfront while for instance the amps by air are more rounded, softer. Which one is closer to the truth? I can't say. They both are of very high quality and successful attempts to build very good amps. I would be happy with both but would prefer the air. I also know others that would prefer the Mark Levinson products. A successful review leaves you with the right impression of the products so you can do an educated guess on what should be your choice. People that ask me if product A or B is better are normally sent towards my reviews. It is impossible to decide this for someone else. The clever ones then ask what would I prefer. But that question is irrelevant as you now might understand. Let me also stress that for the average audio lover these differences will only be noted in a direct comparison and then the sound you are most used to might be the sound you still prefer. So if the equipment is of a given quality, I'm sure most of you will be happy whatever you have chosen. If not, you do need to orientate in a higher class. The exception here is the sound phonetic that, like me, wants the ultimate. And the sound neurotic that changes equipment every few months to exchange better lows for finer highs and back and never will be satisfied. This music lover usually plays three or four albums for he doesn't listen to the music but only to the sound. And that's equally wrong as listening to the music and not to the sound. Musicians invest huge amounts on practice time, instruments and recording time to come up with a product that presents their music in the best way. The least we can do is to put our best effort to reproduce it as good as we can. I'd love to see you back next Friday at 5pm Central European Time in a new video. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. Again, many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and thus trustworthy. If you like to support my work too, the links are in the comments below this video in Youtube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.