Duke,
Thanks for the link to the resume. I didn't get much out of the first chapter, but I applaud any effort to bring rational rigor to sound reproduction as realized in the home. High-end audio is an area of too much mysticism, with "audiophiles" claiming to hear all kinds of things from all kinds of sources. The reproduction of music has by its very nature subjective goals, because systems rarely sound the same, i.e. each distorts in its own ways. But preference for particular distortion does not equate to superiority. Although there is a good deal of science behind the design of a first rate component, there is also an aspect of art, a balancing of choices by the designer.