I think maybe you didn’t read the original post. Nobody questions that one can hear differences. We are questioning how one can say they hear a new component in a new system and in a new room and contribute the qualities they are hearing specifically to that component and only that component and then recommended that component based on that unique situation. There’s no way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The only true way to compare a component to another component is to have it done in the same room at the same time all other variables being equal.
When it comes to high-end audio we’re talking about the differences between a mearly great component and an outstanding component is only about 1%. That 1% is all based on nuances, so hearing a component in one room with a certain system and then trying to compare it to something in your room to your specific system makes no sense, there’s way too many variables at play to say this component is better in any significant way or worse in any significant way.
The only component you could begin to get any real sense of, in any meaningful way are speakers, because the differences are way grater between speakers than in any other component. But even then the room is 50% of the equation, so unless you hear a speaker in the same room, driven by the same electronics your thoughts about what you are hearing or greatly skewed.
The only true way to compare a component to another component is to have it done in the same room at the same time all other variables being equal.
When it comes to high-end audio we’re talking about the differences between a mearly great component and an outstanding component is only about 1%. That 1% is all based on nuances, so hearing a component in one room with a certain system and then trying to compare it to something in your room to your specific system makes no sense, there’s way too many variables at play to say this component is better in any significant way or worse in any significant way.
The only component you could begin to get any real sense of, in any meaningful way are speakers, because the differences are way grater between speakers than in any other component. But even then the room is 50% of the equation, so unless you hear a speaker in the same room, driven by the same electronics your thoughts about what you are hearing or greatly skewed.