@ebm

"This thread says absolutely NOTHING!!!"

Okay then, let me take a another whack at it.

Someone with extensive experience with high performance audio, ventures into the world of the "unknown" and installs something NEW in his system. He leaves his preconceived notions and biases on the back porch, ready to engage in a "neutral" evaluation of said component. After a couple of evenings of careful evaluation, he is torn with his impressions, and asks himself: "Was this the musical equaliviant of being shot out of the canon? Or, was it more like skydiving naked?" Still conflicted, he does the unthinkable and posts his enthusiastic remarks on an audiophile forum - not just embracing a (contraversial) product category, but the actually recommending the component!

Then, someone with the personality of a wounded leopard responds and rips him a new orifice -- because he CAN. Afterall, it IS a public forum.

The antagonist here has a pedigree as long as his arm and not afraid to use it. The OP has a mere 50 years of critical listening experience including professional stints in something Hif-fi related. But no accreditation. He is outguned. So, he’s sitting there with fingers frozen on the keyboard, having one of those God vs Moses moments, not sure how to response to the antagonist. After all, advisary has professional credentials. He does not.

The question, then becomes, what is more valid? A growing and evolving scientific knowledge base with tons of empiracal data? Or, human interaction and experience. To the OP, his musical experience was REAL. To him, denying what just happened would be the equalivant of someone driving a vehicle over his foot and trying to convince him it didn’t happen.

Which is the greater culprit? Gaps in our scientific knowledge base offset by accompanying degrees and certifications? Or, flaws in the human experience greatly minimized by thosands of hours of listening impressions and implimentation of musically significant, sonically predicable solutions in the field?

I’ll go with the human experience, with a high degree of optimism that our ability to measure, theorize, and comment with a degree of respectability will catch up to it someday.

Why is it viewed as an inferior process for seasoned professionals to just listen, "swish" it around in their brains for a bit, and comment?

It's not. That's why audio stores allow auditioning and direct sale companies allow 30 day auditioning..

The answer is human interaction and experience. 

To have someone who's never heard your system tell you what you're hearing borders on insanity and yet, they're here on these forums, telling you so.

All the best,
Nonoise

@waytoomuchstuff You are giving too much time to 'ebm'. Look at his profile and then check his thousands of responses. They are usually one sentence with ZERO to add to any thread. Just like the one here, throwing a non-sensical thought without any solution provided or any context to the reply.

@edcyn
I would suggest that art is sublimely precise in it's ability to communicate emotion, trigger memory, and influence thought.  Science, on the other hand, is clunky in comparison with its manufactured measuring tools, limited precision, and dependence on established thought.
I tend to agree with the OP. Let your own feelings and emotions guide you in evaluating reproduced sound.  The physical excitement and emotional response to music can only exist in your imagination – how your brain processes the information.
On the other hand, intellectual involvement in choosing audio equipment is necessary to make cost/value comparisons.  We all have budget parameters, and must choose equipment we can afford.  We also need to be able to choose equipment that satisfies our own peculiar aesthetics.  How equipment looks and blends into our environment is important.
There are no hard and fast rules for achieving audio satisfaction.  I can be moved and thrilled when I hear something on a cheap radio just as easily as when I hear something on my expensive home hi-fi.  The message, for me at least, is in the music – not the equipment.
In other words, a bottle of Boone's Farm apple wine can trigger memories and emotions just as easily as a bottle of Château Le Pin.