Pleasurably better, not measurably better

@westcoastaudiophile Absolutely, even with my custom listening room, there's the couch/seating, the equipment racks and equipment, speakers themselves and CDs in a corner. 

(If someone is curious concerning my custom room, check out my profile equipment information).  

Kenjit comments represents Audio Science Review philosophy.  I just ended a 27 page, 2100+ comment forum here concerning this very subject.  Unfortunately, the owner and some followers of that site came here to lambast our knowledge and opinions which conflict with his and Kenjit.  

Others continued to assault us with not comprehending our choices without measuring them in a blind ABX test and with high end equipment.  I don't know who does that but not any of my friends or even those $500K to $1 million systems I've heard at their homes.  ASR/Amir claims we are fooling ourselves.  They indicate that cables and tweaks are irrelevant in making music sound better (or worse).

This forum says the opposite-if we enjoy what we are hearing, that's good enough.  I have mostly older equipment (oldest-highly modified SME IV arm from 1989) because I want to spend my time listening to my vast music collection rather than testing equipment.  In in my case, if a cable or tweak upgrade works I keep it, if not I return it-audition only.  

The only upgrade I want will be costly as my system already sounds great and is lower cost high end.  A better imaging/soundstaging/ambiance retrieving speaker than a Legacy Focus.

I haven't tested my system for it's distortion, although I suggest it is low (the speakers have very low distortion (under .4% at 35 Hz).  However, I am astonished at the differences in sonic texture of different recordings with close miked jazz maintaining the least differentiation in sound (especially Rudy Van Gelder recordings).   The range of sound is as wide as the colors in the rainbow (that's very wide).  

@holmz The list provides the room info.  There's really nothing to see but the cherry plywood walls and surface treatment (can't see the HFTs).  I'll try to find the Acoustic Fields video and post my room as finished.  

@pinotnoir Absolutely! I have a 27 page/20 1312 comment response forum on Audio Science Review = "The better the measurement, the better the sound" philosophy and an additional rebuttal forum (current) which debunks the absolutists who claim that measurements tell all. ASR/Amir eliminates all cables and tweaks as snake oil if they are not inexpensive (cables) or worthless (tweaks).

@chmaiwald Great!  Food comparison.  McDonald's burgers measure better than any other fast food burger for consistency.   Despite that, I only eat Angus ground sirloin burgers at Le Petit French restaurant because they taste better to me.  Amir's answer-Le Petit's burgers are too expensive so I am throwing away money when I could have purchased half a dozen McDonald's.  

Last night I enjoyed listening to a 1912 recording of Gounod's Romeo & Juliet.  It wasn't hifi but it had dynamic sounding singing of high quality.  Until I moved into my custom listening room 3 years ago, I did not enjoy the sound of these 78 rpm transfers to LP.  Now, it's pleasurable and I am stunned at the transfer which had virtually noiseless 78 rpm surfaces.  Then I heard the famous Mitropoulos Mahler 1st Symphony from 1941 on CD transfer.  That was fabulous (I've made copies for friends who heard it at my home and were also astonished).  These were single horn and mike recordings.