Mr. Vinyl; The thing is you may like to play Baseball, you may love the game and play well; even catch a 90 mph fastball. But you are not ever going to be Pudge, or Thurman Munson. But as a player and afficianado of the game you can admitt and enjoy watching them. And distiguish between your good level of play and their great level of play. It doesn't diminish your enjoyment one bit to know that the game is played better; but you know that to be the truth. Thats like audio; you know when something sounds great; and if you are honest you will admitt it and enjoy it for the accomplishment of it; even if it is better than what you have. You will get joy out of excersizing your ability to distinguish the rest from the best. To me that is the benefit of participating in the hobby; the results of study and exposure to all of the nuances of the equipment results in that you are more knowledgeable and sophisticated in your choices and ability to choose. And you enjoy learning to appreciate better design. And therefor you get more out of the time you spend with recorded music.