I have a crappy little music system in our home. Its purpose is the playback of background music to entertain us when we cook or as subtle musical fill for the empty space. Usually jazz. This system is on my list of things to improve in 2018 but spousal requirements of invisibility make it hard.
I am not whining. Much.
I am writing about my crappy little system because I've noticed something interesting. A window into what it's like not hearing differences in equipment, something I apparently share with the vast majority of humans in the first world.
How silly our claims of differences heard with cables, speakers, amplifiers, and CD players must be to everyone on the planet but us. I switched out the nasty Sonos built-in power amplifier for PS Audio's and the improvement was noticeable, but only, I suspect, because I was paying attention. And even that difference was limited. Had the swap been done in the dead of night without my knowing it...
It's the speakers, you see. The crappy little speakers.
There's a certain qualification level of system resolution needed to appreciate subtle differences. And, an even bigger divide if those differences are to be significant.
I want to riff on this tomorrow.
