What's interesting to me is how strong emotional response to someone's opinion on audio usually tends to be. You know, if I say "this was the best coffee I've ever had, period!" no one's gonna get up and lose their shit about that. But if I say "this is the best cartridge I've ever heard in my life!" everyone and their uncle is all of a sudden up in the arms. They wanna hunt me down and hang me on the nearest tree.

Why is that? Do you ever wonder why is it that any other pursuit of personal pleasure makes other fellow humans shrug with indifference ("it takes all sorts, I suppose..."), but the moment we declare some opinion about audio gear (or, god forbid, about some guitar player), everyone is asking for our head on a stick!

Why is it a lie if I say that such-and-such a bottle of wine tastes better than some other bottle of wine? Is it because I am not a chemist? So if I say that such-and-such phono preamp sounds better than some other phono preamp, I'm automatically a liar because I'm not a physicist?

What happened to "one person's trash is another person's treasure"? What's the reason that adage is not acceptable in the world of audio reproduction? Because we are so kind hearted and want to protect the innocent and the gullible from predatory sales slime balls? Well, audio is not the only area where sales slime balls are preying on the gullible. Purveyors of coffee, alcohol, or any other consumer goods are equally guilty of lying, or at least sugar coating the truth. But for some reason, we, the righteous ones, let that slide. But no, when it comes to audio, we can't have that! We can't have some sleazy liar take advantage of some idiot with a fat wallet. Not on my watch, nah-ha!

To me, that's just stupid. It makes no sense whatsoever. Who are we pretending to protect, and why? Why are we acting like some self-proclaimed, self-appointed priesthood responsible for saving souls? What makes us the appointed keepers of the holy truth?

I view those impulses as symptoms of a sickness, religious feverishness bordering on lunacy. I have no respect for such 'healers'. Music is the realm of enjoyment, relaxation, feeling-good moments. Why let some frustrated maniacal fundamentalists spoil the enjoyment?

So I say fcuk the guy who enjoys torturing others by riding in on a high horse and 'mansplaining' to everyone all the audio lies they've been subjected to. To that person I say "get a life!".

I wanna spend my time on Yehova's green earth enjoying those fabulous performances that are captured for posterity on various physical, magnetic and optical media. And whatever is going to enhance those listening moments, I'm going to embrace it without any artificially inseminated guilt trips.

As you can see, I'm a subjectivist. I have repeatedly experienced that the exact same song, played on the exact same equipment, one day sounds so divine that it brings the waterworks, then some other day sounds lifeless and dull. Everything else remaining the same, Occam's Razor compels me to conclude that it's all a head trip.

Listening to music is a complex endeavour. Cannot be reduced to some measurable parameters that crude instruments can detect. It's the same as food -- a sophisticated chemistry lab cannot possibly analyze two different meals and declare one tastier than the other. If anyone attempts to do that, we would call them 'quacks', right? So why is it then that when it comes to listening to music, such 'quacks' are all of a sudden authorities on the subject? It's just pure untrammelled bullsh!t.