Ok, I'll bite...
What measurable characteristics about caps that cost 4X more $ make them actually demonstrably better?
ESL?
ESR?
Temp Coefficient?
Voltage Coefficient?
Something else?
Just saying they sound better isn't an answer.
Capacitors seem to be the new cables. Spend lots of $ on boutique components without actually knowing why.
Ok I'll bite too! In good humour I hope
and not just in response to you my friend!
Its not how the expensive capacitors measure, its how they sound, they could measure identically and sound different - crossover designers have been playing with various brands of capacitors for years to achieve the 'sound' they want. Using the term 'better' is probably not appropriate, does the resulting air movement hitting my ears from the speaker cone sound more lifelike, when interpreted by my brain interface, does it sound more like actual voices and instruments? Then in my opinion it might well be described as 'better'.
The other argument for fidelity is "Is it true to the source?" and for years this was my own clarion cry!
But really, who would ever know. Unless you were probably there in the studio in the booth with the vocalist how would you know, even then by the time the engineer and the (may they be forever damned in hell
) producer get their hands on the track it could sound totally different to the live event. In fact thinking about it the 'source' is actually the ears of the engineer at the mixing desk, which will depend on the audio interface used, the cans they are using and of course their own subjective sensory experience.
I suppose if we are saying that if a component does not add anything or take anything away then we are good to go, but that can't be measured in completeness, only some of the characteristics of the component can be measured. Its good to know these, but they only provide a guideline towards its proper functioning within recognised parameters, not how it will influence the eventual sound I hear.
I love my audiophile hobby, I've been hooked for decades and it has provided me with thousands of hours of listening enjoyment, its fun is what it is, and reducing all that fun down to a handful of measurements that purport to tell the whole story I feel is a little sad! Nothing to get anxious about, because one man's meat will always be another's poison - but there is a knock on effect mentioned all over the internet on forums and bulletin boards. We now have an entire industry it seems, ever more willing to bring out a new and unnecessary product that measures just a point or two better than the previous product, SMSL and Topping you know who you are!
But that's ok too, because there are plenty of other suppliers who still wave that magic wand over their averagely measuring discrete component DAC and somehow it will sound more real, more lifelike, more engaging than a few chips and an op amp. True, they will charge more for their magic dust, and who is to blame them!
