These are the most discussed consumer audio products, at least online. With no difficulty, you will find detailed “analysis”, and “reviews” of these products on long reddit threads, YouTube, or non/pretentious pro audio forums, besides regular tech websites. Despite their terrible nomenclature, these products have garnered lots of positive reviews. Especially with the AirPods Pro 2 (let’s just call them “APP”), the reviews are unbelievably positive. They are generally tagged with adjectives ranging from the futile “best earphones ever” to the less creative “incredible” in Apple speak, and even “shockingly good” where the reviewer was apparently toying with the rising attention deficit of our times. Together, these reviews may as well be case studies of our declining critical thinking supported by a broken internet taken over by big companies and paid reviews. Why is that? Two simple propositions stand to challenge the generally positive reviews of these products: sound is subjective,
First, let’s talk about ‘good’ audio generally. The quest for ‘good’ audio is insatiable. That is probably because it is impossible to conclusively define ‘good’ audio. The judgement of sound quality is very subjective. Not only amongst people, but the judgment varies even for an individual depending on a multitude of factors. I have seen my taste in audio quality change with age, the genre I primarily listen to, and the environment where I listen to music. I went from appreciating thumping bass, to realising the brightness of treble, eventually surrendering to the mid frequencies, and finally finding a spot to settle for the neutral sound. I actually appreciate the neutral and balanced profile now. So what is neutral sound? Like defining ‘good’ audio, trying to describe ‘neutral’ sound is difficult due to our subjective understanding of sound. But there is a way out. It is best to write what neutral sound is not! In doing so, there are two popular misconceptions that I will tr