Why is high-end audio so subjective?

It seems only high-end audio is based on subjectivity while video performance is more carefully controlled through measurement and science. Is that really true?

[louisperlman]

'if you are paying attention to something, then it becomes subjective', one of the most profound statements I have come across. It explains a lot.

[fernandozegarraaudio]

I think there are actually fewer myths in the vision area than in the audio part. In addition, it is easier to distinguish 2 events carried out at the same time and that are not based on time.
Let me explain: How difficult it would be if they gave us a color pantone but instead of seeing them side by side we would have to trust our memory, as with audio.
Or that they come and tell us that like this new UFHMHDTV (or whatever) it can show infrared and ultra violet colors, and that's why you can see better. Also, the room where we have the TV does not interact so much with the audio.
But yes, the 2 are completely subjective.
Another thing in favor of HDTV is that it is much easier to calibrate them and that the image is almost the same as that made by the creators, which is very difficult to achieve in audio.

[FSXgta]

All audio is subjective no matter what your system is worth

[craigmichel]

An electronic genius and a master audiophile with a BOSE speaker AND a coffee pot flashing it!!!!....Maybe that's why I keep coming back...Thanks for the great video's Paul...

[ThinkingBetter]

Subjectivity makes our lives richer. If we all liked the same things equally we would have nothing to talk about here.

[savvassidiropoulos]

When I first saw the picture of a 100" 4K TV at a brick and mortar shop, I was with my wife and said "honey, come have a look". It played some tennis game and a well known female tennis player back was in the foreground. My wife's first reaction was: "What's wrong with this picture? Look how badly celluloid her thighs look". She thought that our 30" HDReady TV was much better. Talk about subjectiveness.

What I really miss in high end video is there's no fight between analog and digital fans. Nobody is claiming they like the picture of 420 analog lines of SVHS better compared to DVD or HD.

[professor]

Hey, what kind of power cable do you have running that coffee maker?!? Kidding...
Thanks for all the great videos, Paul. Looking forward to your new book!! 😎

[MrNiceKnife]

Motion interpolation, it’s useful for wide panning shots but dreadful for anything else. Wish AI could turn it on when it’s actually useful.

[jimshaw]

Let me suggest something that seems to be the hippo in the hifi listening room. It rarely gets mentioned, except in audio textbooks and learned tomes.

People hear things that meters don't (or can't measure). If you would like a little engineering exercise, calculate the linear value signal voltage range for 100 dB. 100 dB range is arguably what a human can hear in SPL (not all at one sitting). Meters commonly measure to 1/2 % or 1/10 % of full scale accuracy. Try to quantify that, then, reconcile it.

People can detect differences of sound arrival times of one or two milliseconds while walking around. Meters have trouble sensing that with any repeatability while stationary.

People can travel around an active room, and their ear-brain faculties will hear the source and reject much of the reflections. That is impractical or impossible for meters.

And, so on, ad indeterminum. So, the unknowing audiophile may choose to completely ignore measurements. He has no understanding of how they're done, how they cannot be done, and what those measurement results sound like. What does 1% third harmonic distortion of a moderately loud acoustic-source playback sound like? Whatever is in my wallet in cash bets you don't know. I don't know. If you feel competent, hum exactly 1000 Hz for us. 200 Hz for baritones.

So, many audiophiles would like to ignore all measurements, or better, burn the meters at the stake in front of the cathedral at noon. The greater population doesn't want to be annoyed by measurements they don't understand. Yet, they speak of them incessantly.

Overlay all this with the intentional, deliberate, and premeditatedly self-servicing small list of measurements that even $20, 000 hifi components provide, and you have entrenched dishonesty. Their excuse is that their buyers are clueless as to what any additional measured parameters mean. For example, what does it mean to your ears if your amplifier has a nominal output impedance capability of 4 ohms, and your speaker's terminals measure 1.9 ohms at 95 Hz? What does it sound like if you do this at an SPL of 100 dB? And where does it say in the catalog that your speaker model has one or two points where its impedance drops to 1.9 ohms?

Measurements aren't your enemy. Lies, deficiencies, and obfuscation make it sound that way, though. And, most importantly, the measurements only tell a part of the story that your ears can perceive. But that doesn't mean measurements are at some spiritual war with human hearing.

<chuckle> Then, overlay all this with the accurate assessment that some people prefer Fender and others Stradivarius. You know the difference, but what amplifier or speaker spec qualifies it? What's an audiophile's mother to do?

[oetken]

It is important that your equipment is able to produce what you want to hear. Than it ist your best equipment.

[genez]

Being told it can be objective is an unofficial marketing ploy to make one think we will need to keep upgrading until we finally get that perfect sound. There is only one golden rule to audio. How it makes you feel while listening. Feeling good? Perfect. ... Let others now find their own 'perfect.'

[SamsonOsztreicher]

Got a few things misunderstood Paul, When you go into a store and see the “wall of tv’s” they are deliberately setup by the manufacturer to stand out and appear the most attractive while differentiating from other models. However this mode is far from proper set up as you’d have in your home. And that’s without even getting into colour calibration. The purpose of Video standards is to make sure the output is consistent regardless of which model of TV displayed on.

Love your videos keep it up👍

[ThinkingBetter]

Paul covered topics of video quality well. Yes, video performance is also very subjective. Anything that involve multiple attributes that combine into some compromise yield subjective opinions. A car...acceleration, efficiency, exterior design, reliability, comfort etc...we all have different opinions what is most important.

[hanspetscher]

Paul, you are right. In short words: what you assess with your senses, eyes, ears and „measured“ by your brains and feelings always is subjective. On the opposite, what is measured by gadgets, meters, oscilloscopes, so forth, and scaled against a reference standard or threshold is objective.

[Leery_Bard]

Well, “audiophiles” are just self-proclaimed experts who only care for neat measurements in stripped-down featureless devices and simply have no interest in or understanding of how humans perceive sounds and music. Also, they will always cherry-pick science facts in a sordid fashion.

Don't get me wrong, I love this channel for Paul's knowledge of how sound systems are built and his clear explanations of how the different components work and interact with one another. He seems a genuinely nice person and I truly respect his expertise. I'm invariably trying to learn from him, from set-up clues to possible advantages of different parts and approaches.
The problem is that these so-called audiophiles have been ruining hi-fi for well over a couple of decades now with their nonsensical ideas and incongruous opinions which lead them to utterly misuse the technology and focus on pointless stuff whilst ignoring what really matters, most importantly their customers. As a result, actual music lovers who are actually trying to enjoy high fidelity music are having such a hard time. I know that hi-fi has always been a somewhat niche interest and that diminishing returns have always been a thing, in the past, though, by spending more you still managed to truly get more, now they simply sneer at you and say you can’t get anything. Now, that’s hardly in the sphere of entertainment, it clearly doesn’t equal quality and surely it doesn't scream luxury.

[stanislavshokurov]

The main thing is - nothing measures the same. Everything you can hear can be measured. Mostly people just have no idea what to measure and how.

[filipcza]

EVERYTHING is subjective.
Why?
Because all you have is your senses and the interpretation of that data by your brain which becomes your subjective experience.
No one can get out of these "filters" and see the objective reality.
We all are, and always will be the prisoners of our own subjective experience and can never know how someone else experiences the world.
That is both fascinating and frustrating.
If people would really get this, it would lessen the need to make everyone agree with your "truth" because you would understand that their truth is actually as true to them as your truth is to you.
So let's agree to disagree and have fun with our own unique experience.
Now I want to hear which DAC sounds better to ME! :)

[Xcmntpy]

At the end of the day, we are all human beings not robots.

[stephensmith]

Everything to everybody is subjective. The human central nervous system is an incredible kludge. The basic template for humanity is similar, but we're all custom grown based on individual genetics and lifelong environments and experiences: nutrition, external exposures, physical trauma, psychological trauma, relationships, education, age, and God/neurologist knows what else; I'm just a dumb retired geologist (but I read/watch/listen and learn, still ain't overly senile yet). The nervous system is constantly developing through the growth and death of cells, as synaptic connections break and reform in a constrained dance, that somehow maintains a certain stability but will eventually degrade and fail. Thou art mortal, biological entity; get used to the fact.

I leave you with a brief excerpt (and yet a reasonable facsimile, although I'm doing this from increasingly glitchy memory) from the novel Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey (3rd book of The Expanse Series, highly recommended b.t.w.):
James Holden: 'So this is all some sort of magic trick?'
Miller simulation: 'You're whole consciousness is a magic trick.'

[TheMirolab]

An audio system is just a tool that allows you to admire an art form called music. And the admiration of any art form will always be subjective. Personal preferences will always be the main determining factor. It's like asking if steak is better than chicken, or fish. It's personal preference. I can really admire the precise performance of small stand-mounted monitors, but my PREFERENCE is for larger full range floor standers, at the expense of that precise imaging.