Actually, I think that high end audio has much in common with boating. There are many different styles of boats; all will do things differently. Each boater/audiophile will have different needs and different biases. Some people want pounding base, others want midrange sweetness and clarity, while others want a high frequency response to the moon. I also want a seamless presentation throughout the frequency range. This is usually a tough challenge for a hybrid electrostatic or planar driver mated with a conventional dynamic woofer. I enjoy the sound of tubes over transistors. I have been to 3 CES/The Show in Las Vegas, and I can walk into a room, and without looking at the gear, determine whether it's a tube or transistor system over 90% of the time. And tubes usually have MUCH more distortion than transistors!
Didactically, you seem to be chanting some kind of parroted manta that you've cloned from alleged gurus rather than insightful comparisons. Your dogma about "true fidelity" is laughable! Underpowered amps have ruined far more speakers via clipping, than overpowered amps frying speakers. Your statement, "I believe the only reference for what is 'best' in recording and playback is the live music in the environment in which it is recorded, or 'true to the original'... ", is also paradoxical. ANY electronic instrument run through a mixing board, and processed is not "original". And you would need to duplicate the physical dimensions and construction of the recording studio, as well as duplicating the entire amplification chain and identical model of speakers used in that particular recording studio! Furthermore, fidelity changes will occur at the mastering studio as well.
Assuming a perfect and simple mix using 3 microphones and no further processing or enhancement during the ENTIRE recording chain of a performance using ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS, where is reality? Is it in the orchestra pit, front row, or center of the hall? Do you listen at the actual performance hall levels? We can be talking about 105-110 dB peaks here!
You also mention the SHUR ER2 headphones as "reference models". While they might be, I would be highly suspicious of this designation, due to the low cost, and lack of mention of this model by the audio press and Agon members. You also fail to acknowledge an amps rise time/slew rate and phase shift (figures that are sometimes not easy to come by) instead using distortion figures (although you are quite right about a wide power bandwidth) as the quantifying measurement of an amps quality. An amp with ulta-low distortion can sound like crap if done incorrectly with gobs of negative feedback. You also state, "Of course with dipole (ELS, Planner/ribbon, and open baffle) designs, acoustic room treatment devices are hardly needed..." FALSE! Speaker design type does not correlate to room treatment requirements.
If you are personally happy with your sound system, then I congratulate you, and wish you many years of blissful listening. But I find that your advise is based upon incomplete and selective technological readings rather than years of actual solid listening experiences.
