Methodology
How we measure sound
With real physics, tools anyone can re-run, and the limits stated up front. We measure in a real room, not an anechoic chamber, and we tell you exactly what each number means.
- Reproducible method
- Real-world conditions
- Limits stated up front
The idea
A number counts only if you can repeat and explain it
Audio is full of figures and short on how they were obtained. We do it the other way round: we show the method, give a number you can reproduce, and say what it can and can’t claim.
We don’t own an anechoic chamber or a lab bench, and we don’t pretend we do. What we have is different, and for most real decisions more useful: measurements built on standard physics that run in anyone’s browser, disciplined critical listening, and a real living room as the test bench — the same kind of room where you’ll actually use the gear. Everything below is how we turn that into something you can trust.
The method, on two planes
Software you can audit, ears that test for real
They reinforce each other: the first gives repeatable numbers, the second puts them in the context of real use.
Plane A · The software: the method is the code
Every tool is built on standard, documented signal processing — no black box. An FFT resolves the spectrum; an exponential sine sweep (ESS, the Farina method) plus deconvolution yields the impulse response; Schroeder backward integration gives RT60; a matched filter pins down arrival times to the sample; and level is weighted with the A/C/Z curves and with K-weighting (ITU-R BS.1770), the same basis the studios use.
Because the maths run on your own device, anyone — the manufacturer included — can re-run the exact same measurement. That is what makes a number verifiable: the method, not the badge of whoever published it.
Plane B · The ears and the chain: testing in real conditions
Numbers only tell half the story. The other half is how gear behaves where it actually lives: a living room, with reflections, a cabinet nearby, at a normal volume. So every review pairs the objective measurement from our apps with structured critical listening — reference material we know cold, level-matched A/B comparison and, whenever the product allows it, blind.
We’re not chasing the spec-sheet figure captured in a space nobody has at home. We’re chasing what you’ll actually hear.
For brands
How we test your product
Your gear drops into a stable reference chain and a room we characterise once, so the only thing that changes between one test and the next is your product. We change one variable at a time, level-match to a tenth of a decibel, and go blind wherever we can.
Speakers & soundbars
Wired into our reference receiver and compared A/B, level-matched, against the reference towers. We measure in-room response, the room’s RT60 to factor out the space, and maximum clean output before distortion sets in.
AV receivers & amplifiers
They drive the reference speakers. We assess the automatic room correction using the mic they ship with, clean power per channel, bass management and crossover behaviour, connectivity and everyday usability.
Turntables & cartridges
Into the phono stage and the chain. We measure real platter speed with the microphone, verify cartridge alignment with our protractor, and judge the sonic result in context.
Measurement microphones
We load them into our workflow with their calibration file. A measured mic isn’t just reviewed — it sharpens every acoustic measurement we take afterwards, and we say so.
Honest framing
What we claim, and what you won’t find here
Stating where a measurement ends is part of the measurement. These are our rules, and we don’t bury them in the fine print.
✓ What you can trust
- Behaviour in a real room — the world you’ll actually listen in.
- Room RT60 and modes: robust, they survive an uncalibrated mic.
- Relative frequency response: trends and level-matched A/B comparisons.
- Maximum clean output before audible distortion.
- Platter speed, alignment, channels and polarity.
- Repeatable critical listening on reference material.
- Features, connectivity, auto-calibration and usability.
— What you won’t find (and why)
- Certified THD/SINAD figures: they need a lab bench we don’t have.
- Traceable absolute SPL: an uncalibrated mic gives relative levels, not lab decibels.
- Anechoic response: we measure in a real room on purpose — that’s where you listen.
- Rankings across gear measured on different rigs: they aren’t comparable, and pretending otherwise misleads.
- Headphone FR curves: not yet — that needs the hardware below.
Start to finish
How we run a review, step by step
The same order on every product. When we publish, each review carries its own “How we tested it” box and links to the tools we used, so you can repeat it.
Setup and variable control
Placement by geometry, gear levelled, and above all volume matched to a tenth of a decibel with the sound-level meter. Without level matching, “sounds better” almost always just means “sounds louder”.
Characterise the room once
RT60 by bands and the room’s own modes, so we know its colour and can subtract it from the rest of the tests. The room is part of the system; ignoring it is the most common trap.
Measure the product
With whichever apps apply: spectrum analyser (RTA), sweep for the response, clean-output test, platter speed, polarity… Every figure is logged with the exact conditions it was taken under.
Critical listening
Reference material we know well, level-matched A/B, and blind when the product allows it. The measurement says what happens; listening says how much it matters.
Framing and publishing
We put every result in context, with its limits, and publish the “How we tested it” box. No conclusions the measurements don’t support.
Headphone measurement: an in-house rig, through collaboration
We’re building a headphone measurement rig around a standardised coupler (an ear-simulator type for over-ears and an IEC 60318-4 coupler for in-ears) to publish our own, mutually comparable frequency-response curves.
It’s specialised hardware, so we’re framing it as a collaboration: if you represent a brand that can help with the measurement gear, that’s exactly the push that turns this into something no one else will have in quite the same way.
For manufacturers
Clear rules, and a review that holds up
Working with us is simple, and the terms are on the table from minute one.
- Full editorial independence: the review reflects what we measure and hear.
- We tell you the method up front — no surprises.
- No paying for a score or a conclusion.
- Every measurement is reproducible: you can verify it with our own tools.