For proprietary reasons, I don't feel the modder has any obligation to disclose specifics. Especially when they have a good reputation and are first to market. It is far easier to copy than to innovate. Oade certainly has made the substantial investment in his playback to evaluate the sonic changes.
Graphs and some data is what I'm looking for, maybe some samples recorded that can be compared. I personally see "reputation" as a cop-out for not providing test data that may or may not help your product sell. Look at Madoff and the ponzi scheme, he had a rep for being a great guy, guess that didn't work out so well...
Graphs of what? In a lousy bar, my psp2 sounds better with my MG200's than my v3. But acoustic bluegrass? Give me the v3. What graph is going to reveal that? You need to hear it.
Dragging Madoff into this, especially as a likely to be convicted criminal and fraud, is absurd. Why not just use hitler if you're going to make an absurd comparison.
Oade has posted samples in the past. I don't know if he still does. I've done a lot of livingroom tests but don't bother much anymore because it doesn't match what I hear in the field. Want to know how well your rig records F-18's? Record live F-18's. Live, they make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. A recording of F-18's? Nah. Same applies to live music.
For purposes of replying, I'm referencing your paragraphs in order of your composition above.
1) Well, follow this logic; if you have a piece of electronics that produces measurable results A (and produces A repeatedly when tested with a designed controlled test case), then you alter that with the intention of now product, wouldn't it be nice to know that it changed? For example if we wanted to know if the noise has decreased in volume, a graph can illustrate whether noise starts to show at -60 or -80. Graphs, data (such as specs, but not limited to), and samples; all three can help tell a story about an experiment, just a matter of choosing the right tool for the right task or analysis. So if we were comparing different types of gear, then your right, generally hearing is about as good as it gets to know the difference, however I'm not referring to that. I'm interested in how the same gear (which has a given "sound" or signature) is different after someone changes components, so I'm not sure that the psp2/v3 comparison fits well *in this* discussion.
2) The intended illustration was that reputation for good behavior does not preclude future (or unknown) behavior in an absolute manner, it only gives a guide or general suggestion which may or may not be correct at all. For example, an ebay seller could have 2000 perfect feedback transactions and a reputation for selling mobile phones that were claimed to be authentic name brand, only to discover that some of them are excellent chinese knock offs by an engineer who bought one. Up until the truth was found, this person was considered a great person, with a great reputation, but that did not prevent them from doing unfavorable deeds unbeknownst to others. Reputation may be based on actions, but the foundation of reputation is rooted in perception, and perceptions are not absolute in their accuracy.
3) He evidently doesn't anymore, and I've never seen any comp samples available. If I've missed them on his site or publicly available, please, I'd like to know for future reference. On another note, I find it interesting about your reaction of live actions vs recorded play back as it differs from my personal experience. If I go home and listen to a recording at a similar volume, I generally experience similar physical and emotional reactions as when I heard it, similar but not exact duplicated. Maybe I'm reading into your remark too much and that slight difference is what you are referencing. However for purposes of discussion, with the above jet theory, it wouldn't make any difference (and thus be pointless for analysis) to do any comparisons as you'd never get a true comp short of for each single channel in gets duplicated into 2 out channels (1 to the unmod and 1 to the modded) as it's not "live" (which I interpret to mean non-recorded and from a single source), any other way.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I don't explain my thoughts fully and for that I apologize for any confusion, but I'm honestly interested as to where there is a fallacy of logic?