Have you "lied" to yourself?

3chihuahuas, your practice is normal, don't worry, eventually they stop asking...afeter about wife no. 5!

Bluenose, I'm going to HAVE to lie about the Meadowlark Nightingale's I crave, unless the Talon Khorus that I'm planning to listen to do it!

Anyway, that's why I keep my system at the office...great for late night / early morning listening!

Brought home an expensive (to me) multidisc CD player, anxious to hear a spectacular improvement over my Yamaha. Nothing, nada, nil. Listened intently, repeatedly for a week, at the end of which I took the player back to the dealer. I was pretty bummed when he told me it was too late to return it--they considered any trial longer than a day as a purchase! They gave me credit, though, toward a single disc player which exhibited huge improvement, even with casual (read: spouse) listening. I still have my Icon MkII Power Boss.

A comment on the "remove it and you can hear a loss" phenomenon. Most manufacturers and good dealers will tell you that it might take a while for even an already broken-in piece of equipment or wire to settle in to a system. These comments would seem to lend creedence to that argument, which I never felt was very compelling on its own. While not making any substantial contribution to a system upon their introduction, many components probably reach some state of acclimation after which their removal will make much more of an impact.