I realised I only check objective measurements of components when I am considering a purchase.
I also check user and professional reviewers subjective feedback more extensively as there is a lot more of these.
But once I have bought it I never looked at the measurements again. I do sometimes recheck subjective opinions to verify I understood these to compare with what I am hearing. I don’t have the means or knowledge to test/measure even if I wanted to.
The polarised positions of the two groups is not helping me much. Sometimes it is confounding.
An example I saw was with Schiit Yggdrasil DAC which has a huge fan following and a waitlist of months (due to chop shortages)
Amir of ASR (whose knowledge and integrity I respect) measured and found this:
This is a detailed review and measurements of Schiit Yggdrasil with upgraded "Gen 5 USB" interface and "Analog 2" DAC+analog board. I see this informally called Yggdrasil V2 even though there is no such model name on Schiit website. The retail price as of this writing is USD $2,399 plus...
audiosciencereview.com
So, confounding or what?
Hope the discussion can focus on why there is such a big difference between measured performance and subjective opinions, rather than which is better or more important.
This could be useful for everyone?