... that we don't notice things until we hear something different? That we don't notice there's no body to a cymbal until we hear one that has it? Or we don't notice the signer's voice is anything but natural until we're presented with the same voice in a live setting?
Our ear/brains have amazing abilities to adapt to our surroundings and allow us to comprehend sounds and their sources even if they aren't true to those sources.
It is only when we hear something more natural that we instantly recognize the deficiencies and then find it hard to imagine how we ever bought into the first sound as being real.
I just had such a moment recently listening to music I know well. A new piece of gear comes in and that same music revealed much that was wrong with what I was listening to and apparently had adjusted myself to the reference. As soon as you hear something "more right" you reject the original and can't even imagine how you lived with it as being accurate.
Our references are not set in stone. Not even those that we compare to the "real deal" which is live music, because even live is dependent on your environment, mood and circumstances.
In truth, the Absolute Reference is a myth. But a nice one.
