Is anyone willing to entertain the idea

"hi end audio is the 'wild west' of industries" ... " if it was regulated like other industries"

What a ludicrous statement. Hi end audio is about luxury goods. Same as designer clothing, perfume, haute cuisine. We could all live happy, content lives without ever owning any of it. It's discretionary.

Nobody is forced to buy any of this stuff, and I'd really rather the government concentrated on the important things in life, like education, healthcare, environmental policing, and resisting the temptation to remake the rest of the world in the image of the US.

I'm more worried about "not remembering right" than I am about "hearing wrong" (Musicslug alluded to that). There are subtle or stark differences in many components and even from one album (cd or vinyl) to another. I hear differences all the time. The problem for me is really feeling totally confident about my reference point. It helps to have an intimate knowledge of selected recordings, but still ...

Like the song says: Don't worry, be happy. Enjoy the differences or curse them, the key to this game is enjoying the music, preferably with someone close.

P.S. Since this is all about what is sent to the ears and then how the brain interprets it, don't discount mood, colds, aging, even food reactions (e.g., salt leads to more water retention) -- all that can alter how you perceive the music. Throw in all the extraneous stuff like differences in power integrity and humidity and things really go nuts. Throw in things like discovery and learning (we are all on a journey) and things are really never the same over time. Differences are all tied to a reference point and that keeps changing over time even when no componenets are changed at all.

Regulate the 'High-End"? How about regulating the "Low End" first! More snake oil salespersons there than in all of our hobby combined. Cables: I don't see Roger Penske connecting his Mercedes to the driver via coat hanger, do you? So good cables are paramount, though still only fine tuning.
I hear better late at night whilst I'm alone and not distracted. Yeah, auto-suggestion is a powerful tool! Critical listening...as opposed to just 'hearing'...is to be highly valued. Many 'philes work from the wrong perspective...they have the amp. they 'like' but the speakers they 'cannot wait to unload'.
FIND the speakers that suit your room and your ears and your music, then FEED them with a SUITABLE amplifier, DELIVER the amp. a great signal via a properly matched Pre-amp. and GENERATE or RE-CREATE the information from your source: the best one you can afford.
Connect all and enjoy! Remember, we are only playing back recorder music! (Exception: live broadcasts, a rarity these days).
SO, why bother listening for 'differences'?

i'm joking sean about regulation....but if you notice, no public companies in any business make statements 'implied or otherwise' that can't be proven, even in audio.

Nsgarch said what I was thinking.Thats really my final litmus everything else is secondary by a wide margin.JMHO.