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"Your money's worth" was written in the early 20th century and led us to Consumer Reports and its reviews of even mundane products like toaster ovens and air conditioners. For the record, I don't heart their headphone recommendations, and they err on subjective since no measurements are offered.

In any case, over a century ago, there was a huge gap to fill between the misleading, and sometimes patently false claims (outright lies) of product manufacturers and objective reality. So the Consumers Union formed to bring some science into the world of shopping. The marketing department of a company will tend to substitute biased information for objective facts because: sales. They will also tend to pollute the airwaves and packet traffic of our lives because: money. So ultimately outfits like Consumer Reports are a godsend because they attempt to apply some objective science (product testing) to enable cash-strapped consumers to make an informed choice. That means the consumer gets the best value they can. Helping promote consumer welfare makes for a world of happier consumers, and directs rewards to companies that seek to make consumers happy as opposed to ripping them off. Do you like the ripoff society? I don't. Particularly since most of us aren't making more money than our grandparents did because: Inequality.

The huge amount of "snake oil" in the audio industry means we have not advanced a whole lot in 100 years - we still arguably lack a lot of objective information (e.g. facts) about the products we can buy. There are products across ranges that command different prices but the quality and performance of those products is not necessarily correlated with these high prices. That's where I see Innerfidelity coming in. This market is incredibly saturated with products from tons of companies at prices that range practically nothing to thousands of dollars. All these products are chasing consumer dollars. That's great - just point me to the products that don't have any damning flaws. Do it with facts. Have a standard. Drop pretensions once in awhile.

In other words, I WANT objective information, period. The usefulness of this website rested almost entirely on the subjective impressions weighed against objective facts like frequency response. I seek websites that dare to pit products against each other and reveal high-value options (where high value is also a rather objective finding once the performance envelopes are known - ya, even "comfy" head clamp force).

Websites that ask me to rely on my emotions and ethereal moods want me to be and stay ignorant, then pay maximum amounts for products that do not deserve my hard-earned money when there are better products made by better companies. The articles popping up on this site are scaring me to death. No one is in denial that we do this - all of this - for the love of music, for clear dialogue, for movies on airplanes. Audio is exciting, elegant, and cool - even if most of the tech is decades old. The denial is manufactured by bad writing and a refusal to engage with the facts because they will tend to set the snake oil aflame.

But if you spew this "be emotional" nonsense week after week, and write about swirling a 10 year old cabernet whilst noticing how the amplifier and 50 mm diaphrams placed an equally-dry orchestra precisely above the fireplace, emotions welling up as you cried into your bag of Doritos, I'm out of here. Don't forget we don't all listen to baroque classical. We also like complete crap compressed to high-heaven. You know - modern music. Heck, I even STILL buy CDs. Because you get to own the music for ever - and even share it with a friend - No LOGIN required! Amazing!

One more thing. I like objective measurements because I am geek, and find them endlessly interesting. I don't know why. I measure things all the time. It just makes life more interesting.

I agree. Please consider continuing the wall of fame. It’s a great feature on this site, and it distinguishes Innerfidelity from other sites. It’s very helpful. Thanks

Rafe, I would like to hear your thoughts on the HD600. Cheers