Dave, our director of engineering, might be pulling his hair out. And I don't blame him.
It is very difficult to manage an engineering team when classic measurement techniques cannot be used as the final arbiter. Engineers are used to measuring and quantifying their world through the use of test equipment. Our products are based, in large part, by their sonic performance - a quality no piece of test equipment yet devised has been able to quantify. He and I both wish that weren't true.
But, don't get me wrong. We rely on sophisticated test equipment to ensure quality products leave our production facility. We just invested $30,000 in a new suite of Audio Precision work stations that test every known parameter of every product we make before heading out our door. These work stations are state-of-the-art in audio testing. We rely upon them to catch errors in assembly or parts - and they do a good job - but they cannot tell us how a piece of gear sounds.
Sophisticated audio test equipment tells a small and important story. But, like any good story, there's a lot going on the author cannot tell you about.
Dave would have a lot more hair if we could figure out a way to measure sonic qualities.
