But my whole point has been: so does the subjective terminology used by reviewers ... and even if the rest of the world actually does understand the meaning of the terminology - the actual "effect" being described still remains relative and personal and non quite a standard.
Completely agree that a person's reaction to a gear, a piece of music, a painting, a face, etc, is totally subjective. If the reviewer/beholder/listener/etc is enthralled/smitten/awestruck/whatever, he/she is describing his/her emotional reaction to it. There is no assurance from either the reviewer or the gear's manufacturer that you will have similar positive emotional reaction :lol:. Buyer caveat applies here. Strictly. But having said that, one must add that it is more likely than not to evoke a similar emotional response from most other people, but certainly not all people. What varies will be the degree of the emotion evoked. Emotions are subjective and therefore cannot be conveniently quantised on a familiar scale or pigeon-holed into convenient slots, but nonetheless it helps convey - for whatever that is worth - an important human reaction.
I am sure people on this forum itself will dispute over what they find as warm and bright (say speaker A) unless they compare it with another (speaker B).
I agree to some extent this qualitative "measurement" can still be understood and perhaps standardized.
There are comparative metrics and there are absolutes. If one says,
the frequency response of a speaker A is 24 Hz to 24500 Hz, flat to within +/- 0.5 dB, and 18 Hz to 40000 Hz -6 dB down, we are talking of absolute measurements. If one says,
speaker A is warm, it conveys a relative attribute, and there is no way of knowing in absolute and unequivocal terms what "warm" implies. I guess different people will have varying points of reference. It should therefore be understood to mean that speaker A has rolled off high frequency response, bumped up mid range response, and perhaps bumped up mid-bass response. But we still don't know the quantities! That's where a quick look at the frequency response of the device under test in the audio band will throw more light. There is no absolute reference to what is warm or cold or bright or bloated. So standardising won't be possible any time soon. IMHO, the more appropriate reaction to such terminologies is to use them a general guide. Your ear is the final arbiter!
However, when a review is more about the emotions it evokes in the reviewer - it is of absolute no use to the rest of the world. Perhaps it could be a good blog entry, but not a review.
Depending on who writes it, it can be an interesting "blog entry"
