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Location: Seaford UK
Posts: 1,861
I'm Dennis.
I certainly don't think that this journey of ours is a simple one of linear improvement.
Perhaps there is a phenomenon going on with very high end stuff that seems non instinctual.
I said to my audio friend a couple of years ago that as we get closer to perfection, the apparent differences become smaller, but at the same time they in another way become much greater, perhaps through subtle changes.
These smaller differences result in a much greater perceived quality, but it is difficult to pinpoint them as an obvious FR change, or distortion change, and it is a bit disorientating, like moving into another world, and we cannot pinpoint what has happened.
John Atkinson said something similar in a speaker write-up.
I am currently in a position in which most of the time my system sounds worse with my new very expensive speakers, especially when listening to FM, and then suddenly, perhaps when reception conditions are good, it sounds brilliant.