I want to believe.
Whether you or the rest of your system is the limiting factor, you can only feel what you feel. If you can’t hear the difference between zip cord and nano-fractal unobtainium cables then of course you should save your money or spend it on something else.
Maybe it’s like color vision. Most of us have a standard complement of RGB cones and don’t understand what it’s like to be colorblind. We also don’t understand what tetrachromats can see because of an additional cone - more detail and nuance. My assumption is that some tweaks or refinements in audio are just not discernible by me.
But once you’ve crossed that threshold into a new level of perception or experience it’s hard to go back. Might be like a junkie searching for that first high again. I suppose it can be similarly mind altering. I can forgive the zeal of the converted for strenuously advocating whatever tweak has brought them such joy even if at times it seems they try too hard. If you find “The Answer” then isn’t there a certain moral imperative to share that information as widely as possible? I think it’s usually the cost of entry that gives me pause. What if I can’t hear the improvement? What if I can’t afford to hear the improvement? Because once I hear it, I’m going to want it even if it’s well beyond my own limit of diminishing returns. That’s sort of how my last few upgrades have gone:
- I spent slightly more than I should have.
- I heard minor but distinct improvement.
- I can’t go back, even if the improvement isn’t obvious without direct A/B comparison, but I’m also no longer eager for further upgrades to that component.
And if wearing a tin foil hat made your system sound better, we’d all be wearing them.