Speaker imaging

By that same logic, it's a recording, so none of it is real.

The only thing that really matters is what you hear. Imaging is a big part of enabling a stereo setup to deliver the best sound possible.

Its like going to the movies these days. 3-D done well can add a lot to the enjoyment of certain movies in particular. Or some might not bite and prefer standard 2-d. Neither is real, but both are differing imperfect renderings of reality, to different extents.

...and your mind IMAGINes all manner of things about how great you can hear. :(

"...and your mind IMAGINes all manner of things about how great you can hear."

That's probably the key ingredient for good sound!

If your mind is happy.... :^)

There are reasons why things sound different without lights or glasses, etc., and they're real. Your conscious brain reacts to things automatically all the time and if you remove a stimulous like lighting or ambient noise you will hear differently...to a degree...I've found for years that late night listening has value because personal focus changes. There is a meditative state I can get to with my eyes closed that makes music fairly intense, as long as I don't open my eyes to find I've wound up handcuffed to a sink in a Cuban hotel room surrounded by aggressive spider monkeys...I hate that...

I hate every-time it happens too (hate spider monkeys), but change can be also caused by other factors. It might be not the amount of light in the room but the fact that radio stations are required by law to lower stations power at about 6PM (propagation is better at night) reducing electromagnetic pickup.

Image is not the power of suggestion because on many records I hear sound of instruments coming from particular locations while I have no idea where they should be located. As for the glasses I suspect that when you have them on you can see your system and it makes you worrying how much money you have spent on it - that might be worse than spider monkeys.