Issue one: I don't understand the need to simulate live music. I mean, that's kind of a Disney World thrill to fool one's senses — "Is it live or recorded?" But isn't the true thrill in connecting with the music, regardless of whether one thinks they're in a perfect simulation or not? I would contend that any hard requirement to be fooled into thinking something is live is a hangup that shows someone cannot "listen through" to the music. Now, an oboe should sound like an oboe, and a guitar like a guitar. But that's just accuracy, not simulation.
Second issue: Not sure I followed this. It seems to say that to evaluate a tweak you need to know how it sounds in and out of the system. This seems to answer itself.
Last issue, the chase for the best has another boundary besides the wallet. And that boundary is when the "chase for the best" becomes obsessive. Once someone has forgotten the music, they no longer know what "the best" is anymore, and so any standards related to actual "audio values" are destroyed. They become Ahab hunting Moby Dick.
Second issue: Not sure I followed this. It seems to say that to evaluate a tweak you need to know how it sounds in and out of the system. This seems to answer itself.
Last issue, the chase for the best has another boundary besides the wallet. And that boundary is when the "chase for the best" becomes obsessive. Once someone has forgotten the music, they no longer know what "the best" is anymore, and so any standards related to actual "audio values" are destroyed. They become Ahab hunting Moby Dick.