Quote Originally Posted by magictooth
Sorry, let me point out to you that the salsa was IDENTICAL.

Not in my reference. If my daughter was to eat the salsa that I consider mild, it would burn her mouth to high heaven, same as if I was to eat the chipotle chiles - I would destroy my abdomen, but my buddy thinks it's as mild as butter. My point is that we all taste different salsa's differently, just as we all hear things differently and see things differently. That's why we also have certain preferences to manufactures of equipment. If they all sounded the same (something that just as in cables all manufactures "could" build the "same" reference amp, etc.), then there would'nt be so many brands. Some engineer could make one reference design for, let's say an amplifier, and one maker would build it. All other designs would be snake-oil as they would deviate from the reference. I think manufacturers diliberatly make their equipment, and cables, to sound different (whether it be pleasing to one and terrible to another, it would still be "their signature sound"). Am I too far off here?