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Speakers are the only component you can upgrade with high confidence of hearing a real difference

When the brand and model are hidden, and two components play at exactly the same SPL, audiophiles often do not hear differences among amplifiers (non-clipping) and preamplifiers (except for some high output impedance (tube) models that alter the frequency response in reaction to the speakers impedance curves) ... and so far none have been able to prove an ability to hear differences among wires.

Contrast the consistent results under controlled listening conditions with sighted auditions where one virtually never hears the words:
"I can't hear a difference" or "I don't know which component sounds best".

The bias toward hearing real or imagined differences among many audiophiles is huge -- those who listen under blind conditions suffer character attacks when reporting the results of their experiments ... by audiophiles who have spent a lot of money on components and refuse to accept any possibility that they imagined component differences.

Controlled listening experiments done under double-blind conditions may not apply to your ears if you did not participate, however it wouldn't be wise to casually dismiss the results merely because one believes component differences are virtually always audible (the golden ear mantra).

Under controlled conditions, audiophile's hearing ability has been consistently proven to be significantly worse than the audiophile's expected.

Differences "heard" in sighted warm-up auditions often magically "disappear" minutes later under double-blind conditions.

The possibility of hearing no real audible difference from new electronics, and especially from wires, should not be casually dismissed if you want to make an intelligent purchase decision.

Upgrading speakers, adding room acoustic treatments and buying the highest quality recordings are most audible. Parametric equalization of subwoofer bass frequencies (under 80Hz.) is also audible in most rooms. Equalization of frequencies above 80Hz. is also audible although may be worse than before if the EQ is used for more than very minor changes to the speaker's frequency response.

Many audio beliefs are nothing more than urban myths and unproven conclusions. The belief that "real" audiophiles can virtually always hear differences among components has yet to be proven in over 30 years of blind auditions (where attitudes, beliefs and expectations
have a limited effect on what people hear).

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