Allan F

I can't speak for Darko, but I know that there are recordings with which one may become extremely familiar, having heard them on numerous systems over a long period of time. Accordingly, IMO, one can establish a baseline reference of what those particular recordings should sound like, and can make observations regarding how the sonic characteristics of individual DACs compare to that reference.

David, I would have given you a "Thanks" vote in response to the above, but for the fact that @fas42 has enjoyed a prominent place on my Ignore List for a while now.

I wouldn't know from personal experience, of course, but my friend Ernie Lundquist tells me that smoking a joint can cause slowing of the perception of time.

Agreed. It is just not possible to reproduce the spontaneity of a group playing live by piecing together individual recorded performances. The technical proficiency may be there, but the "live" interplay between the musicians is missing.

I agree that silver cables are often generally described as "bright". While some do sound bright, they do not necessarily sound that way. As with most things in audio, it's the implementation that counts.

I have always admired the well known quote generally attributed to George Bernard Shaw regarding Great Britain and the USA: "Two nations divided by a common language".

True. You Americans speak funny.

Your conclusion, in my respectful opinion, flows neither naturally nor logically from what I posted. Pure expensive cosmetics are, IMO, an unnecessary extravagance, whereas the quest for improved performance is part of the enjoyment of this hobby and is easily justified.

The above is a gross and inaccurate generalization. It is true the some silver cables "have an unnatural sound", but there are others that produce great sound. I would offer my Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II interconnect cables as an example of the latter.

Perhaps I did not express myself well, which has led you to misinterpret my comment. I have absolutely no problem with anyone spending whatever they can afford in order to achieve the best sounding system possible. I certainly do not judge audiophiles who do so, as the logical conclusion is that their purchases are based on performance. OTOH, rightly or wrongly, I view 24k gold plated cables - especially without any covering jacket - as a luxury primarily cosmetic in nature, designed to ostentatiously impress others rather than entertain. For example, I know that you have expended considerable effort and expense to put together the best sounding system that you can. OTOH, to extend the point ad absurdum, If your Wilson speakers were gilded with 24k gold, very significantly increasing their cost, I would tend to regard their purchase with similar suspicion.

Not if you are playing a mono recording.

People who would spend that kind of money on gold plated speaker cables care more about the equipment than they do about the sound of music. No need to wonder how much their systems cost, Teresa, because I am confident that you get more enjoyment listening to yours than they do from theirs.

While I don't question the value of footers and other anti-vibration devices in producing a positive effect on sound quality, IMO the only way they would produce improvements of "a way bigger figure than [half]" is if you had an extremely crappy physical setup to begin with.

I guess you needed to be reminded of the old expression regarding, "too much of a good thing". Regardless of the effect on the sound, I would have expected it be rather obvious that the stack of 12 or 13 tiers was inherently unstable.