Well, I just want to be clear that the odds of me owning a Bryston is a lot more than the odds of me owning an Emotiva.
It was just simply interesting to me when I saw those measurements. Nothing more than simple curiosity.
How can they make a $600 pre-pro that measure like a $10K pre-pro?
What is their secret?
Why can't Arcam make a $6K AVR that measures like that?
How can the Sony engineer make a $500 AVR that measures better than a $5000/6000 Arcam AVR? What's going on?
I seem to recall an engineer once saying that good engineering costs no more than bad engineering. Just because someone puts a thick aluminum case on something, that does not make the unit outperform something in a cheap case. Nor does magical voodoo nonsense favored by some audiophiles and the companies that cater to them.
The simple fact is, great performance in a preamp or processor need not be that expensive. But since fools and their money are easily parted, there are companies ready to help that process along.
As for some of the expensive stuff measuring worse than some of the cheaper stuff, many "audiophiles" don't care about measurements, with some even being prejudiced against extremely good measurements, claiming that making a product measure really well somehow detracts from the "musicality" of the product.
There are also those who grasp at straws, going on about warranties and so forth. When a product costs 10 times as much as another one, the cheaper one does not need to have a great warranty to be a much better value. If the more expensive one lasts twice as long, it is still 5 times more expensive, as with the cheaper one, one simply buys a second one. And very often, the more expensive one does not last any longer than a reasonably priced unit. Just look at some of the gear from the past. Some reasonably priced gear has held up very well. Putting the unit in a thick aluminum case and charging a fortune for it does not make something magically more reliable.
Basically, the mistake you are making is supposing that price correlates with performance. It obviously doesn't. At least, it is obvious to those who carefully look at actual performance. Sure, you can't get a great unit for really cheap, but once one spends enough to get the job done well, more money is just for show, not anything to do with actual sound quality. Basically, $10k for a preamp is a waste of money, if audio performance is the real goal. But for many who prate glibly about sound being what matters, sound really isn't what matters. It is bragging rights and show that matter to them.
