This is my answer to a question about high end equipment. Very few people have an ear for quality music and sound, it appears Simon Cowell does, but most do not. If a person is average to less than average in the ability to discern quality music and sound, acquiring the best music reproducing equipment, as opposed to acquiring run of the mill equipment, makes no difference, because those people can t hear the difference. They may hear just as well as the audiophile, but their brain doesn’t process the sound the same way. If you have an ear for quality music, the little things that are produced better by the high end equipment become much more apparent. That being said, my system has the ability to communicate to my brain, music with all the nuances that make it more real. I can hear the little sips of air the singer is taking between their verses. I can hear their fingers slide across the strings before they reach the next cord. I can hear the music emanating from locations in my room that clearly have no speaker, and there are many times when looking at the speakers while playing loudly, if I was a betting man, I would bet the speakers are un-plugged and the music is coming from some other source. These are some of the qualities that too me, make it more real, which is very relaxing, as though I am listening to the artists playing a private concert just for me without all the interference of the thousands of other listeners. The problem of course is, the costs go up exponentially as the quality improves slightly with sound reproducing equipment. I hope that helps you understand better what is going on, and why there is so much controversy. Wealthy intelligent people who haven’t and ear for music, are always trying to convince the public there is no difference, which there isn’t for them, but for others who do have an ear for music, they notice it, but can’t convince the others of what they hear. Each person has to determine for themselves, if they have an ear for quality music or not.