How competitive are you with your system?

I don't know how or why my system got so darned competitive; I'd like to think that it was just an innate flaw in its nature and nothing that I did, but I am sure that it is probably due to mistakes I made when it was in its formative years.

If you think about it, if one were to use AI, they could do a digital rendition of a direct transfer and the recording and have the program "overlay" them looking at any differences in the bits.  The fewer the differences, the higher the score?

I did not realize that I was supposed to build a system that competed with other. I built it for my listening pleasure 🤦‍♂️

Mihorn has shown my case.

Here is the direct transfer:

https://youtu.be/CoOp12ayIVg

And his wavetouch version:

https://youtu.be/lM-vtW-bygs

Load them in separate browsers and listen alternately back and forth at the same volume level.

Ignore soundstage/imaging/separation.  These are not comparable unless close-up micing is used and even then the playback equipment may not support it for what it is in the room.

OK...,  it doesn’t matter what you are listening on if it is decent.

Where did the bass go???

Where did the harmonics go?

Why does it now sound "boxed in" and not open?

The closer one gets to the direct transfer, the higher it scores.

What matters to me is whether I'm moved by my system.

I’ve had friends with far more costly rigs. They sounded very nice but didn’t actually draw me into the music any more deeply than mine. 

I don’t know how you can compare subjective listening experiences, let alone rate them, especially given that dfferent guys prioritize different aspects of said experience.

Sure, you can do it based on dollars spent. Not anything I’m interested in spending time doing, but as they say, "different strokes".

And how do you account for the fact that spending more doesn’t guarantee better sound?