The point I would make is that it really doesn't matter what anyone else hears. What is important in this discussion is what each of us hear. I am familiar with synesthesia, and have done a lot of reading about it. Vladimir Nabokov had synesthsia. Once I found that out, it explained a lot about his writing.
I know my hearing is declining. I have a hearing aid in one ear. Luckily, the other one remains analogue. Whether my hearing is not great or fantastic like those soundmasters you mentioned, when I buy stereo equipment it is to please me. And I certainly don't want to start comparing myself to people who have better hearing, I might start buying stereo equipment whose benefits escape me.
So, you're quite a bit younger than I am, and you're doing a lot of comparing. My basic advice, from my older perspective, is that people should buy what they can afford and what sounds better to them. There is a lot of advice about things most of us never could afford, like tens of thousands of dollars in electrical equipment. I think on forums like this one people should try to help one another but remember that all of us have budgets and our own preferences in terms of how we want our stereo to sound. I would for sure keep a soundmaster out of my listening room because he might tell me about all these expensive things I can't afford and I might become disallusioned with my stereo. I buy equipment to make me feel better, not inferior to someone else.