I always kinda cringe when an audio reviewer calls the thing they’re reviewing a DUT (Device Under Test). First off, it sounds horrible and secondly reviewing hifi gear is not a test.
When a film critic watches a movie, are they testing the movie? A MUT (Movie Under Test)? When an art critic or food critic look and taste and write about the experience, are they performing a test? AUTs and FUTs?
Of course not. All of these things are experiential in nature, so the value of a hifi, painting, movie, or meal lies in their consumption. In the experiencing. While its not always the case, the more experience a person has in a given area(s), they are generally better able to gauge relative performance and value. If Mr. X has heard 3 DACs and Mr. Y 300, whose opinion holds more weight in terms of how a given DAC stands up to the competition? Out in the real world, where there’s no empty text box under every experience waiting to be filled with empty words, the answer is self evident.
That said, the only way to know how something experiential in nature works for you, or not, is to experience it for yourself.
I used the “O” word because we deal in opinions when writing about the experience of listening to hifi—even when there are measurements involved. See our Certainly Uncertain series of articles for some real world examples of how measurements and their interpretation are subjective in nature. One easy example is when two people write about their measurement results of the same piece of kit and come to nearly opposite conclusions (see Certainly Uncertain Part Two for details).
When reading reviews, even reviews that include measurements, keep in mind you’re dealing with opinions—a DUO (Device Under Opinion). The best case outcome of any review is curation—the experienced reviewer can help narrow the field of choices and ideally lead you to something you enjoy. Take special care when you read a review where the writer pretends they’re dealing with anything more than an opinion because it’s an admission their ego is more important than the DUO or you.
