Just like you I understand that our connection to music comes from multiple angles: emotional, analytical, as a student, as a teacher, as a critic or just casually. Moreover irrespective of how we are connecting we can easily tell when we like something or we don’t Neither you nor I need any sort of training for that to occur. Note the emphasis on the word ‘like’. It conveniently bypasses the tricky aspects of ‘accuracy.’ Let’s keep it like that for now.

Years back my wife shouted from the other room to “stop fiddling about and just – for once – play the damn track in full Howard; the whole track or turn it off!.”

I told her what I was doing.

I was comparing the analogue stereo input on my Benchmark DAC to that of my LFD LS3 Linestage. No big deal, I thought. It’s what I do – correct? I compare stuff so as to produce effective demonstrations so that clients can make their minds up quickly and confidently. From her perspective though, the first five minutes of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Cotton Avenue’ time after time must have been, well, irksome I guess. Meanwhile, be VERY careful at 1:44 if you value your bass drivers. Anyway ...

Sensing defeat I invited her to get involved. I asked her to tell me whether Benchmark or LFD sounded better. I didn’t define better. I'm still not sure what is meant by better. I guess it means which option we like more. She was a self-described tone deaf who viewed music as useful but not in the fanatical way I did, and still do incidentally.

She said LFD LS3 was .....

Continues @ http://www.hifianswers.com/2017/05/b...esson-learned/