ABSTRACT
With its origins based in musical arts, audio has evolved with a very substantial influence from opinion, and even emotion. Audio journalism is a business, with income, expenses, writers and reviewers to be paid, advertisers to be found and satisfied, and next month's issue to be prepared. The author has known many audio professionals over the years, and some of them speak disparagingly about consumer audio. Professionals place great importance in having their products "translate" to different scenarios. Readers were encouraged to go spend a lot of money on a mediocre product. With a foundation of scientific knowledge guiding engineering efforts, good-sounding products can become more numerous and more cost-effective. However, when immersed in the complex sound field of a normally reflective room, two ears and a brain are far more analytical than such a simple system. A human listener does discriminate, and does so in terms of both sound quality/timbre and spatial attributes.
