the fun in our " hobby " must be the MUSIC enjoy and not the endless quest of tweaks.
Of course. But you can enjoy music via MP3, too
The normal Audiophile wants to have a "better" reproduction and is willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, money alone is not enough today. Marketing and"I can hear better than you" or the "...he has money, but no idea about music ..." influences every decision...not easy. Would a electronic Standard help? Don't know, when I listen to Denon or Kenwood or Accuphase, I can say, all got the Standards but I am not in the reproduction....
25 years ago, there was an audiophile community which was able to afford anything (was not part of it, I was too young) and they really knew what was good or not. They created a High End Magazine, knew all Manufacturers and wanted to give a Demo in the High End show to show the customers how they listen to Music and how they rate the "reproduction". Long Story short, they were ready to give a demo with their own components...
Before this was done they made a Pre-Demo and invited some top Manufacturers to listen... the result was depressing....they have been asked not to do that, when customers will "hear" that, they can't sell their units....
It was cancelled.
The customer wants not "only good sound", he wants more, a good "test", a "Hype", something "exclusive", something"expensive, no more expensive" etc. etc. etc.
And then we should not forget those, who are not among the Genius in this world, but they want to survive too. And to make a little money (or a bit more :))
Sometimes I am a bit sad, because I think, the Know How is existing, but this is not enough today. Having success is not based on this, it is based on Marketing mechanism (Profit, Sales, Ads, Promotion....)
On the other side, what would happen, when a Designer would be able to create a definitive unit for 8K consumer price?
For a few this would be too cheap to be good....or a piece of wood on a string for 6k, yes, this would work....