OP… @bruce19
Thanks for your comment. Really interesting question.
You know, at this point in the evolution of technology there is not a solution.
Originally, when I got into this I was a practicing scientist, and quickly I realized there were too many variables to even begin to solve this as a scientific problem… to optimize some stuff and provide an answer. You have to listen. Which, by the way is what science is all about… first observe… this is the foundation. Human hearing is truely amazing and values are highly varied and change over time.
I am fascinated with the pursuit because of a real attraction to music… but remained glued to it because of the positive feedback I received by my decisions that provided improvements in sound quality. I am fascinated by really complex and ambiguous problems… my career follows highly ambiguous complex stuff.
I remember driving at 60 mph across the Black Rock Desert a couple decades before Burning Man rocking out with the highest end Sony Walkman and high end headphones… returning to my motel room in the middle of Nevada (Winnemucca… love the town) and getting immersed in Miles Davis with my 100 wpc stereo with speakers 8 feet apart and incredible imaging. Or hanging my head out the window in Atsugi Japan listening to the best headphone system imaginable (CD player, huge portable head amp) listening to ERA. The rewards, from such effort and commitment unraveling such a complicated problem.
‘Some day I suspect technology will mature and you will buy something that can provide any sound you like. But I don’t think we are close. Fifty year? One hundred? I guess it will happen. But for now… we have to work for what we get. Some folks like the challenge, most think it is a waste of time.