different people may hear the same sound differently...

Yep I never hear my wife or kids when they ask for money..LOL little levity seeing how we are all wound so tight. 

Even before music, sound was extremely important to me. I learned at an early age, that much of what I heard was noise to me. This included language. Unfortunately, most sound in general was overwhelming and nearly intolerable. Especially shrill to me were girls screaming, dogs barking, and any traffic was confounding to me. You bet it affected my schooling. It seemed that a lot of it had to be figured out by myself in a way. 

 When I first heard much of the music that was in church or elsewhere, a lot of it sounded bad, and I was right. Finally, professional recordings of the day changed my mind, and though a choir was not understood by my hearing, the pitches, definition and more was still beautiful. This eventually led to me to learning to play trumpet, and band was a big thing when the music became more advanced. 

 A little later audio became enjoyable through equipment that I bought in high school. Never knew the lyrics to songs, but the melody, or counter melody along with other musical factors drew me further into audio. I suppose that it was a sort of natural choice. To this day, I sometimes wear ear plugs at a restaurant so I can read a book. Much the same reason that I will sit outside just to distance myself from the clucking.

 Most people don't have much of a reaction to a spoon dropping on the floor. I envy that.

Wasn't trying to derail the thread, just being honest about how my ear/brain works. It has been sort of fascinating for me to know what it is like for 'normal' people.

Poppy Crum of Dolby has done extensive and humbling research on this issue.

if some folks in this forum took her work to heart, there might be less bickering about this or that component, connect, technique, etc. Once your system reaches a certain level, there is no “better”, just different: it boils down to what YOU are hearing and what pleases YOU, not some audio cognoscenti.

Once your system reaches a certain level, there is no “better”, just different

I have said this here dozens of times yet there are those here who will still try to preach differently. Most often though they are those trying to sell something. Sad.