I don’t understand Amir’s argument. I have huge experience listening, and I have a good idea about the perceptive ability to hear things, as I was an audio salesman for awhile.
I hear differences in my system immediately after putting a new piece of equipment in. More or less details, differing tonal balance or emphasis in certain frequencies. Where the differences are small and thus difficult to ascertain (as when I auditioned the original Audience AU24 interconnect against the Audioquest King Cobra, each providing similar slightly warm tonal balance with similar detail), I don’t fret about it.
I thought Amir went off the rails when he reviewed Schiit equipment, claiming that their products were dangerous. I don’t read him.