Doug I’ve given up on trying to correlate the quality of sound replicating reality in any way. For that to be even remotely attainable it would first have to start with superbly engineered recordings. However, I am as you are, in the subjective camp. The objectivists are bound by their beliefs, and in the case of a few posters here, their education and biases. I don’t know them but their comments are typical of folks with preconceived ideas based on prevailing engineering dogma and also possibly what they can’t hear, if they even tried, nothwithstanding Al Marg’s excellent rebuttal. Obviously Al articulates in his typically lucid manner in what might be the cause of why we hear differences/improvements in something as seemingly inconsequential as an ethernet cable.
Doug I like you am interested in an aesthetically pleasing experience. I unlike you, at least it seems based on your comments, have no delusions that reality of a live performance and enjoyment of playback of a performance are really two unrelated experiences, one the experience of what an "audiophile" is attempting to achieve via the dictum of "The Absolute Sound" the other connecting to a musical performance in a meaningful and profound way, they are to me two distinctly different objectives. But as I have commented to others with objectives similar to yours, enjoy your journey!
