I have become respectfully skeptical of those who seemingly suggest they have bionic hearing abilities which extend far beyond those of the audiophile masses. OR, should I throw in the towel and conclude that my last 50 successful yrs in the music production business was just due to fat chance? I literally have $500k + invested in a modest but well thought out home 2-ch stereo system. My wife and I listen to music every day. She listens strictly to the music, and sometimes I focus, not on the music itself, but rather on the effects of the changes I (secretly) make to components and cables. And then I have to ask myself if MY critique of the changes is even possible, since I’m the one who made the changes, and therefore, unbiased objectivity is immediately compromised (often affected? by the financial cost of the changes?). Hmmm, there is no worse feeling than spending $7k on a pair of interconnects and hearing NO differences that translate to a "better" sound results!
Once one has spent considerable dollars and research effort in assembling a well-matched system, it is likely that most such systems will sound very good....so good that most of us could easily live with ANY of 25 different systems assembled to such standards. EACH might have subtle individual characteristics that distinguishes them from the others, BUT none will actually sound un-listenable.
For me, maybe I’m ready to step off the audiophile merry-go-round having past the point of diminishing returns long ago? My system sounds better than I ever imagined it could. And maybe the only legitimate question that remains is whether my 20+ year old Siltech LS-188 speaker cables (which were way ahead of their time at the turn of the century), currently represent a weak link in my system. Might the Shunyata Sigma V2 speaker cables take my sonic perceptions to another level, or just move me laterally to another seat in the auditorium?
