I have been a high end speaker manufacturer/designer for 30 years, and an "audiophile" consumer as well.
Once, I designed a speaker with a partner. Each of us had the same set of prototype speakers, and we were swapping components in and out and comparing notes.
I remember calling my partner up one day and listening to the music playing in the background. I correctly identified the brand of capacitor he was using in the speakers, playing in the background over the phone, because of the sonic "signature". It was immediately apparent. I know an amplifier designer who can pick out vinyl or digital over the phone, as I've talked to him a number of times with music playing in the background, and he was always right.
A lot of these ABX tests at the beginning of this article are terribly flawed. Quick listening sessions of unfamiliar source material is the main problem. The ear, like other senses, can become desensitized very quickly (like when you grow used to the smell of your own house, for a slightly gross example).
That said, there really is a lot of bull(*&* in the high end audio industry. Grossly inflated prices is the number one problem.
The other problem is the source material. Although I like popular music (read: rock, pop, etc.), it really doesn't place a lot of demands on the playback equipment. A good recording of popular music sounds pretty good on a wide range of equipment. The main differences being the dynamics (speaker size and ss amp power). Modern digital is pretty good for this too, most mid level gear sounding ok to my ears, with no reason to spend more.
Not so classical. Most modern classical recordings are mediocre at best.. Listening to newer recordings of Baroque music played back on digital gear through solid state into decent speakers is a dry, sterile and tortuous exercise. You need tubes to make this kind of music come alive. Proper recording of classical music is a lost art, as far as I can tell.
I have my own opinions on gear:
Analog is better than digital, it always has been. If you put money into analog (table, arm, cartridge, phono stage) and have good records, you will reap the benefits of your investment. Not so with digital. The best digital front ends sound only marginally better than the mid level gear. The law of diminishing returns applies (I did say mid level, not entry level). OTOH, a good digital front end is a thousand times more practical. It goes without saying that the newer digital gear is better than gear even a year or two old, because of advances in chips.
With ss amplification, of equivalent power, there are difference, but some are "subtle". The best ss gear retrieves a tremendous amount of detail without sounding hard or clinical. Mid/entry level ss gear, however, (like Rotel, Yamaha Natural sound, etc) has come a long way, and sounds pretty good to me. Pretty good but not great. Differences between these products and the megabuck gear is mainly in low level detail, soundstage, and perceived "quickness and dynamics". Excessive hardness, brightness, and grain has been greatly diminished in this stuff. I find Class D amps to be underwhelming. Too smoothed over in the mids and surprisingly, the bass isn't all that convincing, and the treble lacks "enthusiasm".
I haven't heard them all.
I now find that some Japanese consumer brands' higher end products sound very good compared to just a decade ago, and much better compared to 3 decades ago. Too bad for all those boutique brands out there, and all the hard working designers of 2-4k integrated amps over in Europe, and the mid level DAC designers too. I can't hear an important difference in these products (European or botique integrated amps/dacs versus the best 2 channel stuff from, say, Yamaha).
Cables: There is a difference in sound between cables, depending on what they are constructed from, and how well they are made (professionally terminated). There is a difference between connectors (high mass, low mass, surface area of contact). Solid core, stranded, insulation (teflon or pvc), etc. These differences are "subtle" and not often apparent in quick a/b tests. OTOH, outrageously priced cables are not worth the money. Common sense will tell you that. It's a scam, with very little basis in cost of materials or cost of manufacturing.
Speakers: Most competently designed speakers sound remarkably similar at first listen at low volume. Achieving a flat response without gross errors (cone breakup problems, deviations from flat frequency response) is very easy to do now with modern measuring equipment. The Andrew Jones designed Pioneer speakers you can purchase at Best Buy for $129 each are amazingly good (though with limited power handling, so get the sub). They equal speakers costing upwards of 1k a pair of just a decade ago. I have some myself.
In general, with speakers, you pay for dynamics, bass extension, and transparency, without errors of commission by the drivers or xo components. It's not a cheap proposition. Great speakers are just expensive to make (but not as expensive as the list prices indicate).
Since the consumer demands slender cabinets, small vented woofers are everywhere, which is a shame. Large, sealed woofers sound better.
Tubes: The only way to go for Classical and acoustic music, especially with digital sources. Unfortunately, they all sound different (the amps, the preamps and the tubes themselves), and different in unsubtle ways.No ss amplification captures the proper harmonic structure of stringed instruments. SS channels Santana, Norah Jones, Radiohead, pretty well, however.
My opinions.
