millercarbon,
Those anecdotes are hardly accounts of a controlled tests.
And of course you include the usual disparagement of the other side having cloth ears, the old "you can’t hear differences because you don’t have finely tuned golden ears like me" trope. (This is always hilarious to me - I spend all day attending to incredibly fine audio differences, often tuning the recorded "sound of the air in a room" to within 1 db or less to tonally match other airs or tracks. Literally all day balancing the sonic and tonal characteristics of sometimes up to 50 tracks at once. Not to mention I've been obsessed with live vs recorded sound for 40 years and an audiophile for almost as long. But, I'm sure you are in a position to diagnose-over-the-internet my perceptual abilities just to try to stick the knife in because...well...it makes you feel better. Just beautiful).
Whereas I am not saying you are wrong in your claims. I’m actually open to the possibility of fuses sounding different, burn-in etc. I just happen to be aware of the pitfalls of purely subjective inferences particularly when it comes to controversial technical/audio claims. And I see for the most part anecdote in support of the claims, vs hard evidence. So, have not come to a conclusion at the moment. (Though I think there is good reason to infer that many audiophile claims are poorly supported and likely due to subjective errors).
It’s too bad you come to audio discussions with others who don’t believe just as you do with such a strong desire to insult, millercarbon. If you could just dial down the naked hostility there could be actual conversation.
(Hope that was short enough, Andy ;-))