In the 1990’s a friend showed off his system, Yamaha amp, Infinity Kappa 9’s.
He put on The Rolling Stones, Jumping’ Jack Flash.
I had heard that song ten thousand million times by then, but I never heard it like I did that day.
It was stunning holographic and no rational mind could defeat the illusion.
You could look right at the speakers knowing they were the origin of the sound, but the sound was everywhere and the ‘aural’ mind could not square what was seen by the eyes and known by the mind.
I could ’see’ exactly to the inch where each band member stood, could identify exactly where Keith’s pick was hitting strings, could hear the scratching of his guitar pick, could tell exactly where Mick’s mouth was at the microphone, could point out the exact placement of Charlie’s snare drum, could hear them drawing breaths.
To this day, that memory is the standard by which I consider audio.