I don't want to beat a dead horse but I'm bugged.

Making decisions solely on measurements is akin to judging meals only on salt content. If they have to the same salt content they must taste the same right?

My favorites are the anti tube guys saying they don’t want distortion in their system. Unless you are listening to a tone generator the distortions are what allow you to determine if the same note is coming from a trumpet or clarinet. Distortions are what cause the tonal differences between the same instruments.

Measurements are guidelines not rules of superiority. Steve Deckert at Decware is designing a new 300b amp. (I guess a two year wait just isn’t enough) He talks about his design process and while a specified circuit provides the proper current and voltage it doesn’t necessarily sound good, There is an art to this that measurements can’t provide.

In conclusion, how can what we hear be measured?  In medieval times the minor chords were knows as the Devils Chord because of the feeling it evoked. How can the feelings of emotion that music brings that be measured?

https://aleteia.org/2018/10/25/a-medieval-forbidden-musical-sequence-the-devil-in-music-or-the-devils-chord/

Nobody sounds like Ella Fitzgerald if it could be measured and reproduced then everyone could sound like her.

An A note sung by Ella compared to the same note sung by anyone else can be measured but don’t sound the same. Or you can use a tone generator to produce that same A note so if you could measure everything you could make that tone generated sound like Ella so if that’s artifacts I’m for it!

I want the equipment that produces the most believable Ella in my living room and will use any method to get there but ultimately it's whether she sounds real or less real.  

This is a quote from a review of the Audio Note UK Cobra.

https://highfidelity.pl/@main-1173&lang=en

If I am not mistaken, this device was created as a result of engineering efforts to achieve the best possible parameters, and later it was almost completely reworked as a result of listening sessions. This initial DNA is still present in its sound, it is actually its basis. However, it was brought to the point where one can no longer just say that it is a technically correct device, but rather that it is refined - musically and sonically.

Most important part of the review:

However, when we connect it to good loudspeakers and feed it with a signal from a quality source, we will hear magic - real magic with it. Seemingly inconspicuous, musically extremely musical.