Adding to my last post, I too hear and have always heard phenomena such as Schubert describes. Once I noticed that the system sounded 'better' when I switched around some particular cables . Then I noticed it sounded better again when I returned the cables to their original positions. Huh? This is known as psycho-acoustics, a well known phenomenon in which auditory perceptions are influenced by non-acoustic factors. I learned over the 55 years since I assembled my first system that any number of things, known and apparently unknown, can affect my sense of what I am hearing. That alone meant that I would be foolish to accept necessarily as true whatever I hear. If my system sounds better or has 'more detail' or a 'deeper soundstage' with my eyes closed ( so I KNOW that nothing has physically changed but the orientation of my eyelids) why should I believe that I am hearing real difference without the kind of objective verification available (admittedly only approximately) through blind testing.
This pursuit of sound is an expensive habit, potentially causing some people serious financial difficulties. Obsessing over a set of wires you can't afford to the point of blowing the kids' lunch money on it since you think they 'improve' your sound is a sure sign of addiction and that alone can seriously color your perceptions.
If you want to have at least a little basis for trusting (or not) what you hear the simple single-blind test I have described is not only fun but it might seriously symplify your life.
This pursuit of sound is an expensive habit, potentially causing some people serious financial difficulties. Obsessing over a set of wires you can't afford to the point of blowing the kids' lunch money on it since you think they 'improve' your sound is a sure sign of addiction and that alone can seriously color your perceptions.
If you want to have at least a little basis for trusting (or not) what you hear the simple single-blind test I have described is not only fun but it might seriously symplify your life.