You got to admitt there must be a reason the musical guys pay the big bucks for certain amps/guitars/drums/mics especially. Those are the desireable ones and the reason for that is they sound good. Now I understand that of course there are differences within each instrument as to taste and certain sounds a guy looks for. But in my humble 30 yrs of playing I have always seen it to be that the good sounding equipment gets noticed right away while the poorer sounding stuff doesn't. How many times have you attended a studio session and heard a player exclaim to another how good a certain amp sounds; even if that amp isn't one he chooses to use they always seem to agree. Or a group clusters around a certain instrument after they hear it; I know that has happened to everyone who plays. If this wasn't something that guys who play did not encounter all the time i wouldn't even bring it up. It would be nice to hear some empirical anecdotes from other muscicians than we two; that would I think make a case for my argument. I know I paid a lot for my sons vintage Buffet clarinet and it wasn't because it had nice chrome trim. Or try bringing a nice Martin 1944 D 28 to a local store and playing it against the usual suspects. See if there is no agreement as to the quality of the sound. I think you might find some unanimity in opinion on that model. Why? Because everyone can recognise good sound without all the rigamarole discussed up top here.