A lot of those differences are *due* to differences in freq response, WHICH IS THE DIFFERENT LEVEL OF A PARTICULAR PART OF THE FREQ SPECTRUM AS COMPARED TO ANOTHER PART.

Plus, you could also say that hey, a lot of those differences are due to phase differences inherent in *most* (not all) speaker manufacturer's designs.

(Phase variance is also created any time a "filter" is applied to the audio signal. Crossovers, low/high pass filters, "cinema eq" etc.)

The problem? Only Vandersteen, Thiel, and Dunlavy, among a very few others, actually make "phase coherent" and "time aligned" speakers. So... if phase (and time alignement too) mattered that much, then people wouldn't be buying B&W, Paradigm, NHT, etc.

Speakers are a different matter annyway, simply because of how they interact with the room.

But, for source components and pre pros/receivers, I believe that the differences that people can actually hear between quality components are so small as to be meaningless. (DSP algorythms are different, just straight stereo, 5.1 DD, DTS, etc.)

And as for people who can hear the differences between *quality* solid state amp designs under normal operating conditions? More power to you, but I think you're fooling yourself. Now, if the amps are driven *hard* enough to detect the nature of their failure ("catastrophic" or "graceful"), that is also different.

A *lot* of people consider amplification a commodity. Not a lot of difference between quality amps.

And I know this from experience. Have had Acurus amps for quite awhile. 100x3, then 2 200x3's, and now 2 A200x3's. Liked 'em so much I tried their big brother the Aragon 8008x3. Big and bad and beautiful power amplifier. But after 30 days? Couldn't detect any difference so stuck with the Acurus.

This is a philosophy thing. I believe what I believe, and you entitled to believe what you want to believe.

Bottom line is that I don't go chasing component after component because I believe I'm going to get that much more benefit in sound quality. (Digital vs analog *does* matter. Analog rules. But differences between DACs in *quality* components *of the same technology generation*? Ain't going to convince me that matters. But I still want 24/192's... )

I go for ergonomics, quality of construction, manufacturer reputation, reliability, features, remote considerations. I put heavy duty consideration into the reviews I read, even if I don't believe all the sound "quality" differences that are noted. But because the professional reviewers out there do come across a hell of a lot more componenets than I ever will, so judgements of all those other items that I look at will be included. I also put heavy duty emphasis on audioreview.com. If a sizeable proportion of the actual *owners* of a product like it, more than likely I will too.

But of course, ymmv, and it will...