> > > (I can also explain why some people *can* hear the difference, and why it > > > doesn't matter!) > > > > What's the short version on why it (officially) doesn't matter? > > One word: heuristics. You can learn to hear around a myriad of > non-linearities, the magnitude of which is sometimes quite astronomical. Besides that, it comes down to taste, e.g., which speakers sound better to _you_, esp. playing the music you like. And whether you care enough about that compared to the next-best pair to pay the additional $X. All the hype about "accuracy" of reproduction is mostly irrelevant, since in almost all cases, that does not map reliably onto the asthetic scape where the enjoyment lives. In other words, I can easily hear the difference between 128 K mp3s and original CD media on mediocre PC speakers, but I don't care much most of the time. I can still appreciate and enjoy the *music*. (I _have_ done that discrimination test, to the satisfaction of sceptics, BTW, as well as the one that shows I can distinguish among skim, 1%, 2%, and whole milk. The latter is more important to me.) Andy