You have set forth most all of the reasons why people find differences in the equipment they discuss. I'm sure there may even be a few more. But, I'm not at all sure that I can make a connection with your statement that to refine your music reproduction system allows you to "get closer to the music". To the contrary, all that you accomplish is to enable yourself to hear what the engineer's put on the recording, which I feel has little to do with music in a pure sense, unless you consider the engineer an artist who suceeds the original composer. IMHO music is an art form, much as painting. One does not need a loupe to appreciate a great painting unless one is assessing the technique of the artists use of the brush and paints. Art is meant to be viewed at a distance. In my view so is music. Its meant to be heard live in an appropriate venue. It does not need electronic reproduction to survive and in fact there is no model for the recording and reproduction of music by which anyone can judge correctness. You may enjoy hearing a piano concerto with the microphone in the piano - you sure will hear all of the sounds from the vibrating wires - but you will not hear what the composer intended.
In my view the more familiar one is with a piece of music the less important it is to hear all of the detail you feel is important to "get closer to the music". Thats why Bose and MP3 are successful outside of this hobby - those folks just need clues, not detail and, interestingly, we denegrate them for their choices. Hum, I wonder who's really better off, us or them? Something to think about as you worry about which cartridge or wire "sounds" better.
In my view the more familiar one is with a piece of music the less important it is to hear all of the detail you feel is important to "get closer to the music". Thats why Bose and MP3 are successful outside of this hobby - those folks just need clues, not detail and, interestingly, we denegrate them for their choices. Hum, I wonder who's really better off, us or them? Something to think about as you worry about which cartridge or wire "sounds" better.