What's the goal of high-end audio? Strip away all the technical talk and what are we really after?
The answer is simple: we want to create an illusion so convincing that we forget we're listening to a reproduction. We want to close our eyes and believe the musicians are right there in our room.
That's it. That's the whole game.
When I was just starting out in this industry, TAS publisher Harry Pearson invited me and Stan to his listening room in Sea Cliff New York. He played a record on the Infinity IRS system, and something magical happened—the massive speakers completely disappeared. My eyes and ears felt a complete disconnect. How could these huge wooden columns disappear like that?
That moment changed my understanding of what's possible in home audio.
Great recordings captured with proper microphone techniques, played through a well-designed system that's properly set up, can create moments of pure magic—where the boundary between reproduction and reality blurs.
That's the illusion we chase.
