Atmasphere, I understand your confusion with how I seemingly arrived at a different conclusion. I did not do a very good job of explaining that I agreed with Syntax as concerns audiophiles, NOT manufacturers, as a group.
Mepearson, from my vantage point, you prove my point. I don't believe I have the subjectivist argument reversed at all. My argument encourages listeners to listen and arrive at their own conclusions, NOT based on what others say. It has been demonstrated time and time again that numbers actually tell us very little about how something sounds. Remember "Perfect Sound Forever"?
Cjfrbw, where to begin? All I can say is that, with all due respect, you could not be more mistaken. Reference to the "absolute sound" as you call it, is exactly what most musicians use, and prefer. The fact that they are seldom satisfied with reproduced sound makes my point. They listen to music in very different ways than most audiophiles do. They are accustomed to listening for subtleties available in live sound that are simply obliterated by the recording process. That is at the root of their disatisfaction. And BTW, musicians, as a percentage of the overall population, have far more audiophiles in their ranks than not; to debunk a popular myth. And they most certainly are sensitive to the true sound of instruments other than their own.
Look, no one is suggesting that the pursuit of the absolute is the only way to enjoy music in the home. If it sounds good to any given person, great! As has been pointed out, why judge? But to deny that there exists, in fact, a true reference, is being closeminded, and to refer to the pursuit of such as "smug delusional" is a kind of aural equivalency that only serves to dumb-down excellence.
