It think that alot of variables are present and an often overlooked one would be the actual listening room itself. You have great components now you have to tune your room.
It's not the sound I want!
My system consists of a Krell kav300i, Aeriel Acoustic 6s and AdcomGCD750. I have Cardas cables , Jenalabs interconnects and Synergistic Research ac chords. It sound great at times but I find many cds hard to listen to. I listen to vocals with acoustic guitar and the guitar sounds detailed but so metalic and unnatural. It sounds like sombody is playing a saw with a bow. Is this what digital really sounds like? Is it sytem matching? I dont think it is the speakers. Is it just a matter of settling for the best we can get for $8000.00 and limiting what we listen to?