Oh shit, here we go with the epistimological thing again. Maybe you want to argue about whether God exists for a while, or maybe a theory on the origins of the universe.
Re: ABX, sure, what the hell, I'll try anything once. I pass the test with digital links, why not a power cord-eh?
But sounds to me like you fellas have chosen poorly your hobby. I don't know what systems you run, but based on the above, I can now assume that you picked your pieces on something other than how they sound. Cool. I'm into it. But I will never understand how the unbelievers of you can look me in the face and say an amp you have chosen sounds better or different from another, or likewise with a pair of speakers, but also say the stuff that strings them all together makes no difference. Any comment on how arbitrary that is?
We can go roundy round racing on this for another month solid, but what's the point? Your minds are made up. There appears to be no amount of rationalizing, mathematical machinations, blind faith or otherwise that's gonna change your minds. So that begs the question, if everything sounds the same, why are you here? Sheer joy of playing devils advocate? I'm stumped.