[eclein]

I got a new/used DAC yesterday, a nice piece made by a freelance designer and it sounds awesome! or does it???
Do we talk ourselves into thinking our sound is better or is it really just different??? Is our mind playing tricks on us, are we really chasing our tails??

 My system has never sounded better, many little things I thought were missing or lacking in the sound of my system have filled in and/or expanded. I've said here, and to myself "everything just sounds awesome and so much better" probably over a dozen times in the last few years when I hit on a new piece of equipment or tweak that re-energized my system.
 It makes me wonder what I was originally listening to, a speaker system made of cardboard? An old radioshack system or one of my older brothers project amps I used to mess with when I was younger.
 What do you guys on AC think?????

[Early B.]

I get just as much toe-tapping enjoyment when one of my favorite songs comes on the crappy car radio as opposed to my "reference" system. The value of listening to music is the emotional connection you get, not the highest fidelity sound, per se. So, yeah, I switch components and get the "aha!" moment like everyone else, but realize that even though it may sound better, the music remains the same. 

[srb]

Ed, I think you could sell sand in the Sahara desert.  Or a DAC to yourself.

But I admire your general characterization "My system has never sounded better, many little things I thought were missing or lacking in the sound of my system have filled in and/or expanded", while avoiding the cliched hyperboles "blacker background", "deeper and wider soundstage" and "more air between instruments"!

I know what you mean - after someone has installed power cords and interconnects that make the system sound twice as good, cryogenic treatment and teflon tape that turned a $1500 solid state amplifier into a pair of $30K tube monoblocks and tweaky fuse replacement that made a night and day difference, it's readily evident that the system in its previous form was in fact dog poo.

Or you happened upon a DAC that was simply better than the DAC you had with a combination of frequency response characteristics, detail and dynamics that truly was a better match for the rest of your system.

Steve

[PSB Guy]

The system I have now sounds far better than anything I've ever owned in my life. But I can't say I enjoy it any more than my parents old Zenith console stereo that I first discovered my love of music on when I was 9. But it does allow me to feel closer to the music than I ever have.

Cornelis

[eclein]

I agree with all you guys that the music is key, the equipment is secondary but my point is when we put something new in our systems and we listen to it. If we think it sounds better than before and we do similar upgrades with the same result over say a year or two shouldn't we all be famous for having the best sounding systems on the planet?

OR, are we just tricking ourselves and the change is just that-a change. Its not necessarily better it just more unique then it was seconds before we upgraded the setup so we think its better and we are moving closer to perfection when in fact we are just walking in circles with an ever changing landscape. Each change we make obviously changes the sound but do we ever really make it better??

 Maybe all my years of being involved intimately with music have just made me over think things or it was too much partying...LOL!!!!!

[cujobob]

You can make it better, but a lot of times we assume there must be a difference when there may not be. We can't remember sound very well from memory and if one doesn't compare quickly in a very specific way, it's easy to believe things sound different (better or worse) when they might not at all.

[sharpsuxx]

I try to be as honest with myself as I am capable of being.  I have heard the difference between one cable and another, I have heard the difference between one source componenet and another, I have heard the difference between a few DACs although I am just venturing into this realm. 

The biggest difference makers to me have been Speakers, Amplifiers, Pre-Amps, and Recordings (Better quality ones vs. poorer quality recordings) as far as reaching sonic nirvana.  I try to get the background of my music as Black as possible (lowest possible distortion and laboring by the system) because this seems to make the image sound more precise and open, and some amps and pre amps can have a serious impact on this sensation.  With speakers I could listen to 20 theoretically good (Flat response, Great Extension, properly phase aligned, using great components) and only a few of them give you that "magic" of balance and "Je ne sais quoi" factors that you just can't put your finger on on paper.  The control that some amps have over the lower and upper end of the frequency range is usually pretty evident as well. 

I agree to an extent with the OP, some components are just tweaks, moreso than improvements.  They taylor your sound closer to your own personal ideal, without doing so much of a clear obvious "improvement."