I didn't want to actually say as much in this threadI guess (and like many others before) I used to read about the "majic" properties of various components and how they could absolutely transform audio systems. One such favourite used to be Holco resistors and I remember replacing the critical items in my Pioneer A80 amp at the time. Of course it sounded better at the time, how could it not
but as time went on I started to realise that so much of what you heard was expectation and that it would be better.No question about that but the difference (subjective difference) isn't as huge as you might think. It's like having a £$€ 10,000 set up. Take the £$€ 2000 CD player from that system and fit 741's to it and it will still sound as good as dropping many a more modern £$€ 200 budget player into that same system.
Have to disagree on that.
If you are honest with yourself and find that a component swap does just "sound better" time after time, day after day and week after week then for you it has to be the right choice. By that I mean a swap where the essential performance of the circuit is unchanged, not something that leaves the circuit on say the edge of instability, or something that changes a fundamental property of that circuit.
Specific examples that have happened to me are replacing Philips NE5534's used in my own Micromega Stage 2 CD player. This was at a time when the NE5534 was more universally highly regarded. I went for TL071's and genuinely liked what I heard over many weeks and months. Years later I experimented again and settled on a mix of OPA604's and AD845's
Opamps are perhaps a unique case as they are hugely complex sub circuits in their own right.
But that said, if you do genuinely hear a difference in something (whatever it is) then that has to be proof enough for you.
Personally I don't go in for specific brands and types of passive components but just choose top quality "best brand commercial grade" parts that are widely available and that are best suited to the application.