I just spend a dinner with friends discussing this and we could not agree - as so often - but we came up with some points of views that we all adopted at various times:
- The scientist: requires that a component must reproduce audio beyond what can be detected by a listener. Scientists may use their own measured ears, best case human hearing, or the ears of their preferred pet as reference. Quality is a deterministic measure of physical units in reference conditions.
- The psychologist: requires a scientific approach but only for parameters that have been shown to matter in side-by-side blind test. Quality is a statistical measure of, typically, physical units.
- The pragmatic: assesses components predominantly by listening to well-known recordings in a familiar space and by playing with volume and other controls. She/he may engage in occasional side-by-side comparisons, which are usually not blind, and consider a system agreeable if it lacks obvious flaws. The pragmatic can listen to a vinyl or tape record without needing to identify flaws. Quality is largely binary: pass or fail.
- The enlightened: has gained superior audio knowledge by attending audio-shows and is friends with the local hifi store. She/he knows all the high-performance components and does not necessarily need to listen to a component before forming an opinion. Quality is measured in $.
- Everybody else: considers that everything but all-in-one devices are a waste of space and hifi should not cost more than a family dinner. Typically buys state-of-the-art hifi that is bluetooth speakers, preferably an Alexa/Siri/Echo. Quality is measured by a "best of ranking" by some website (one of the first few google responses).
It is also noted that these individuals can be
- egoistic: the listening room has a single chair and well defined sweet spot
- social: the listening room is open for social gatherings and the sweet spot must extend over a minimal area, which may be a couch or more
- compromising: the listening room doubles as additional room, e.g. living room, limiting placement options and often adding requirements such as dorm-proof, child-proof, or pet-proof.
At our dinner, we could not find system that is "good enough" for everybody. Perhaps we did miss something important or perhaps it is for the better if the question has more than one answer.
I'm curious what folks here think.
Just remember it is all for good (and well intended) fun.
The system that's good enough for everybody:
-Fits in a backpack
-Can run on battery or USB 5v if need be
-Has the design to make you look rich even when your friends drive italian sportscars
-Costs less than $100 and can be had for $60 around the holidays
-Has flat anechoic response from 20hz to 20khz at 120dB SPL with -65dB THD at worst
-Has perfectly even cardioid directivity down to 80hz
-Also somehow has a dipole mode
-Has the impact of a Klipschorn and the pinpoint imaging of a Blade Meta
-Has inputs for any source from phono to AES to WiFi and runs Roon, spotify, and every other "connect"
-Perfectly linear phase response via DSP
-Somehow also has an all-analog option
-Is made from all biodegradable, green materials
I agree, there is no such thing and I doubt there will be in my lifetime.