Very good point. I am adding it to my quotes from WBF archives, dude, you're in my book now!
I and you could stop here and listen for the defeaning silence as no answers arise. But, I would say that its the definition of an audiophile that many seem to adhere to, the one of the golden ears theme.
In fact, there are really very few golden ears and they are sure not in their late fourties and fifties (and 60's and seventies!) as they are not even hearing 60% of the sounds that are coming out of their stereo systems to start with. I had to break ranks with the word audiophile because of that golden ears thing, and when someone say, eh mate, you don't hear that tizz on the high hat? and if you say no, then you are not an audiophile, and the guy saying that does not have to prove anything (that blinded listening session again) and so he walks away (whether he heard it or thought he heard that tizz) with his chest popped out cause by damn he is special.
So, for me, I just say I like music, and I like gear that provides me the most details that I can hear, and any system that gives me more information from a recording and makes every recording sound different then that system is for me. And yet, if I want some tone controls of my choosing I will plug them in. I every day nearly choose what headphones to listen to depending on my mood. Clarity or a mellowness.
I am at peace with my ears and brain and ear brain interface, and I know that they are just physical things with a wild ass computer program deciding what is "me" at any instant in time, and I did not write the program or can even look at the code. In fact, I don't know if the program is re-writing itself every instant anyway.
But, yep, this is the thread for us who know enough to know that our ears and brain can and do fool us often enough. We just are not afraid to admit it here.