Are Audiophiles "Simply Guessing?"

Alan Parsons worked at multimillion $ facilities with original recordings that are far better than what most audiophiles ever listen to. So I guess his attitude was that for recreational listening there was no point to compete. 

I pretty much agree. 320 Kbps and higher is where it is starts to get tough to tell the difference on higher resolution. I think you can on some music tracks but on many pop/rock you can’t with an A or B test. Classical tracks with large dynamic range and acoustic instruments are easiest. Training also helps because you know exactly what to listen for.

This is very different from equipment.

I am continually surprised that the latest electronic equipment with SNR of -130db sounds better than -105 dB (the gold standard for years) because both are so damn good! I think it is because we rarely optimize the audio chain by listening close to maximum volume. So if you listen typically at -60 dB on the volume control the -130 dB gear is going to still sound near perfect while the -105 dB gear is going to have some noise that masks some details. (At -60dB, the -130 dB system has a dynamic range of 70dB left while the -105 dB system has a mere 45 dB above the noise floor).

This is what Alan Parsons says

https://www.cepro.com/article/beatles_pink_floyd_engineer_alan_parsons_rips_audiophiles