Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago

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Sound quality can be measured, and you can tell if a headphone is good or bad just by looking at the data. Or! The data is actually misleading, and what really matters is what you hear -- assuming your ears are good.

This is the age-old objectivist vs. subjectivist battle in the audio hobby, and like they both have a point. But they both get things pretty wrong. Here's how.

Thanks to Binary Acoustics for sponsoring this episode of Wave Guide.
- See the all of Binary' gear: hifigo.com/collections/binary?rfsn=8539789.379f98

00:00 Intro
01:14 Why it matters
02:15 Objectivist perspective
03:38 Neo-objectivist perspective
07:04 Subjectivist perspective
08:32 Pragmatic perspective
12:21 Confidence stacking
14:20 Signal & Noise
16:19 Wrap-up

These are some IEMs I often reach for, some of which I can't explain:
- youtube.com/watch?v=v7Dd-uA750c

Also watch:
- youtube.com/watch?v=cTNkKeaaTvI
- youtube.com/watch?v=CRaXG99FFqg
- youtube.com/watch?v=paTir_fcQWg
- youtube.com/watch?v=zt96Gub5S3A

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FYI: I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

And follow Binary Acoustics on...
- Facebook: facebook.com/binaryacoustic
- X: https://x.com/BinaryAcoustic

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Disclosure: This video IS sponsored by Binary Acoustics. Check them out at https://binary.audio/

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#Objectivist #Subjectivist #audiophile #WaveGuide #headphones #IEMs #audio #SuperReview #audiophile