True or False?

I totally agree about the earlier comment regarding listening skills.  Very important.

Put aside the issue of listening to different pieces in A/B comparisons without making sure the volume levels are accurately matched before listening.  Because this will give the totally false impression that one hears something better on one than the other.  But, it is only  a volume difference that gives that impression.

Now, listening skills.  Same as for wine.  If you don't know what to taste for, you are going into the comparison missing information.  If one doesn't know what a real cymbal sounds like or  what a real violin (don't get me started on the differences between violins) sound like versus electronic violin, you wouldn't know if what you are hearing is accurate or not.

I would go to concerts, especially live un-amplified concerts, orchestra performances, etc. and take my children and friends.  listen and enjoy.  go home and listen to analog and digital recordings.  They would comment that the cymbals sound tinny or not close to as real as what they heard earlier.  Same is true for musical instruments, etc.  Ask them to close their eyes at concerts and tell me where the musicians were on the stage.  They had no trouble doing that.  Listen to recorded playback music and on some systems, they couldn't tell you.  On others with the same recordings, they could.

They were starting to get a grasp on what to listen for and the differences based on the equipment they were listening to.  then they realized that their ear buds, inexpensive systems may sound great as background music, but when they sit listen, it didn't sound right.

That is the education of listeners.

Same for wine and other things.  I had alcoholics in my family and it caused some negative destructive issues in the house.  I didn't drink or like wine at all for quite some time.  Weddings, parties, etc.  yuck.  Why are people smiling and acting like they were enjoying themselves drinking this crap.

It wasn't until much later that a good friend turned me on to Napa/Sonoma and wine tasting that I realized that I just never had a good glass of wine before and then started on the journey of enjoying and learning what is good and what isn't with regards to the various varietals.  Some wine, I just don't care for.  Others, well...  

 the issue is also for non-Audiophiles, they aren't really listeners.  They are playing music as background music while doing other things.  Which is not a bad thing at all.  But, they aren't really sitting and listening and would never justify spending the ungodly expensive amounts audiophiles spend on equipment. 

I listen to a piece of equipment either in my system A/B comparing or in the dealer's store (hopefully in my system).  If I'm happy with it enough to purchase it, I rarely, if ever feel the need to tweak it.

Again, as I mentioned previously, correcting the room to me isn't a tweak.  Upgrading equipment isn't a tweak to me also. That is just getting to that next level of "there" for me.  I actually don't consider replacing interconnect cables or speaker cables as tweaks also.  vibration control? tweak, fuses? enough people have reported significant  improvements to the extent that as an Electronics/Electrical Engineer, I can't dismiss it.  If it is in the signal path, then any changes can affect the sound.  Not convinced about power supply and rail fuses.  But, who knows?

anyway, I don't believe that most high end manufacturers deny that certain tweaks work, they are saying that what they designed and installed works great in their view, it isn't cost effective to install $2000 fuses and basically they haven't seen the need to install that fuse, low availability resistors or caps.  Or as the case of many manufacturers that provide SE versions later on, they caps or resistors that were used to upgrade from regular to SE version may not have readily available in sufficient quantity and reliable enough in the early versions.

enjoy

Hello,
I feel like I am going to get a verbal beat down for this. Every audiophile should try a Puritan PSM156 power conditioner. It doesn’t matter what media you prefer to play. That’s the beauty. It improves every component plugged into it. Each plug is isolated from one another. Most have banks of four. That means the four in the same bank are contaminating each other. Not with the Puritan PSM156. It filters everything it needs to without chocking the sound. I hope you have dealers that let you demo one. It has to be fully broken in which takes 12 days. I call it the 12 days of Christmas. On the twelfth day you get the best gift of all. Unbelievable sound! Stop tweeking until you try this.
 If you are in the Chicagoland area the store I purchase my Hifi gear from lets you try before you buy. 
https://holmaudio.com/
I hope all of you get to try this. It’s like lifting a vale off your entire system. 

@minorl - sorry to come in late, to ask you this:

So, no, I would not be trying to find the small producer, latest and greatest caps and resistors, If i'm fairly certain that they may not be available later on.

Have you had a crossover using the highest quality parts fail on you?
If so, what make and model? and did the driver windings fail before the crossover did?

generalizations such as that embodied in the op’s query are pretty much useless in a world where the specifics in any situation drive all outcomes 

@hshifi - got one, lovin’ it immensely.

12 days sounds about right, I felt like returning it after day 3. Then I left it on at moderate levels while my wife and I were at work, all day for the next two weeks (I had a month to return it, so I wanted to give it every chance).

1. I have a Datasat RA-2400 (2 x 400W) power amp
2. HDPlex 200W linear power supply that branches off to power a server computer.
3. non switching power supply for the DAC
4. wall warts power supply for the Synergistic Research Master Coupler X2 with a 20A C-19 plug to power the PSM156
   
5. a small TV I use as a monitor
   

Immediately the noise floor lowered so that I could hear not even a slight hiss in the speakers. I have not bothered to remove / replace each component into the Furman PST-6, to see which device it improved the most.

I was looking at the In-Akustic filter (more expensive) before a fellow Agoner gave me this great tip off. I will admit that I wasn’t overly happy with the resulting sound at first, however it’s a great asset in my system.

I was looking for a power supply that didn’t limit current, which would affect dynamics, did have circuit protection built in, and this has a DC filter as well as what hshifi has mentioned.

I have lost absolutely no dynamics, the noise floor has gone dead silent, attack and decay are more pronounced, voices are more holographic and the mid bass is now even more palpable.
It is the device that answered all my desires, and delivered qualities that I hadn’t considered. It is a hifi bargain product. The biggest complaint I’ve read about on this forum was loss of dynamics using a power conditioner / filter. This thing leaves the sinusoidal waveform from the incoming power intact, and shunts (shorts) the high frequency hash to ground, well shown in videos. After initial break in, this device has shown no downside, and proves to be a valuable asset that punches hard for the investment.

a big ++ to hshifi