If you ask me, the recording quality. Some of my favorite CDs sound like crap unfortunately. My Mcintosh setup does the best job of all the ones I have tried to prevent a constant hiss from coming through but the recording still sucks. Perhaps when the cat fight of SACD and DVDA is over, we can settle on spending time and money on IMPROVING a common standard (as was mentioned) that should include recording company equipment quality as well.
As far as the steady current thread above between speaker and amp, it IS totally quantifiable and I have calculated it for my setup but let me tell you, it is supremely complicated and is dependant on all parts of the system. You change one piece and everything has to be done over again. Flux linkages from the cables, output circuits, and speaker coils are all intertwined and consequenly affect both voltage and current continously and are the main reason for differences in sound and fluctuations in output. Mcintosh realized this years ago and with the inductor-coupled output (autoformers) they use on solid state amps, they can reduce the effect by dominating it with a known variable - a fantastic concept. Electromagnetics are very complicated and so you might as well forget about calculating, since even that is an estimate at best, and just listen for yourself since the end result is what your ears like.
As far as the steady current thread above between speaker and amp, it IS totally quantifiable and I have calculated it for my setup but let me tell you, it is supremely complicated and is dependant on all parts of the system. You change one piece and everything has to be done over again. Flux linkages from the cables, output circuits, and speaker coils are all intertwined and consequenly affect both voltage and current continously and are the main reason for differences in sound and fluctuations in output. Mcintosh realized this years ago and with the inductor-coupled output (autoformers) they use on solid state amps, they can reduce the effect by dominating it with a known variable - a fantastic concept. Electromagnetics are very complicated and so you might as well forget about calculating, since even that is an estimate at best, and just listen for yourself since the end result is what your ears like.