Bryon, several posts back you raise interesting points by distinguishing between perceptions and preferences, while acknowledging their interrelatedness. You suggest that perception and preference are fungible characteristics that both evolve through educated listening, and that preference follows perception, albeit at a slower rate of change. You maintain that there are fewer differences in perception between educated listeners than is generally remarked. Through educated listening, divergences of preference may ultimately represent shared but differently weighted perceptions.
My sense is that listeners who have moved through the arc of lots of equipment generally experience "progress" in their evolution, and look back on past components with an admission that the process was a journey of perception and taste, rather than a random sensory experience. One would like to believe that perception is on the leading edge of preference. There is enough logical positivism in the process to suggest science, and enough metaphysics to justify continued purchases.
My sense is that listeners who have moved through the arc of lots of equipment generally experience "progress" in their evolution, and look back on past components with an admission that the process was a journey of perception and taste, rather than a random sensory experience. One would like to believe that perception is on the leading edge of preference. There is enough logical positivism in the process to suggest science, and enough metaphysics to justify continued purchases.