Goods Designs last Forever

[Jay]

People are doing side-by-side comparison (or A-B test) to decide which amplifier is better than the other.

Long time ago, I came by to my buddy’s house. From a distance I heard a terrible music. He set the equalizer opposite to the standard “V” configuration (e.g. boosting the lows and the highs). We argued. His argumentation was that everyone has his own preference!

That was an extreme example of how first impressions may fool people when judging “better” sound. So, how would you know that you have chosen the right capacitor? The right amplifier? The right speaker? Do you have that so-called “golden ears”?

For me, a long time enjoyment of music listening is the only measure. But what are the parameters? These are still mystery, but assumptions are built from experiences.

A design (speaker or amplifier) may not work in certain configuration. But as time goes by, people will find out the right configuration. When people are happy with their system (they are happy to live with it), they won’t bother to replace their system with a more “sophisticated” system. Thus, good designs just last forever…

[Brett]

Originally posted by Jay
So, how would you know that you have chosen the right capacitor? The right amplifier? The right speaker? Do you have that so-called “golden ears”?

I would say, practice, experience, a willingness to experiment and to be wrong (make mistakes). It's also good to have some test gear so that you can try to correlate what you're hearing with what's going on technically, or at a minimum to ensure that a component modification has not caused a fault, and so a 'false' conclusion to be drawn.
Undoubtedly a few people are born with such exceptional hearing, that they can hear tiniest nuances in a system, but the rest of us can learn it too. A person who picks up an instrument to learn, at first is unlikely to be able to discern and describe the nuances in a great player's performance, but after time, and with practice may be able to.

It's a hobby, have fun!