"It doesn't impress you at first..."

I agree with the "living" with ideology, only because it has been my experiences. The best components I have found don't blow you away upon initial listen, but its the fact they do nothing wrong and it takes a while to get used to. I have also found the most fatigueing components are the ones that blow me away upon first listen, the "wow" factor wears off and what ever caught your ear now drives you mad!

Clearly there is a difference between good sound and bad sound, once those lines have been defined its the subtle things that make a system enjoyable to me. This could easily be a difference between the way various people listen and the things they relate with live music.

A classic example which holds true every time I try them are silver cables, I have yet to find one that I don't find fatigueing. Yet at first listen I am blown away and think this is exactly what I need, but it doesn't sound like live music and this wears me down. The funny thing is every maker of silver cables claims there cables don't sound like other silver cables- after all ours went to an ivy league school so they are better then your silver cables:^) I find it funny that if everyone is trying to make silver cables that don't sound like silver cables then why start with silver in the first place!?!?!?

With truly great components it can be love at first note, but these don't come around that often.

Since I have never listened to live music in my room, and you can never listen live music if you are listening to an audio system, I just get the component that makes music sound most enjoyable to me (after I listen a while). Since no two components are identical sometimes it takes a while to sort out the differences and choosing the one which does most of the important things for me well and matches the rest of my system. I envy you being able to accomplish this in 10 seconds. I always get bogged down in this synergy thing. :-)

I agree with Tireguy in general and especially with those Silver cables. They never lasted in my system either, and I'm very suspicious of components (mods as well) which use silver wire.

But music is often an acquired taste. It is the subtle things that often separate a great musician from merely good and you can't begin to appreciate the subtle things that a musician does until you understand more about the music and the instrument. It's like reading a book or piece of poetry. The best books or poetry are ones you can read over and over again and find something new and it's the same with music. Like good writers, good musicians have a vast resource of associated knowledge in which to make references to. If you don't understand or have knowledge of what the references pertain to, you miss parts of the message. When you've figured out what the references mean, you can then come back and perhaps find new appreciation for the work.

Often times a component, be it speaker, amp, pre, cables, etc. have a quality that is quite apparent immediately. Sometimes you notice the bass or midrange, etc or a combination of things that jump out at you and scream "hey look at me". But over time you realize that these things don't necessarily serve the music. They are sometimes exaggerations and can become quite annoying. An artificial detail or something else that while grabs your attention initially just isn't real.
We don't simply listen to bass or treble or midrange or dynamic impact (well maybe some do). It is how the whole is presented. Are you listening to your "system" or are you listening to music. Therein lies the answer.