I'll be brief; you can thank me later. :)

Steve, I can go into great detail about why you probably made a reasonable
choice on speaker cables -- despite all the hype and buzz (pun intended.)  
And good for you!  

(I can also explain why some people *can* hear the difference, and why it
doesn't matter!)

Jason, I'd love to chat with you about the philosophy of why we do or
don't need anything better than 44.1kHz 16-bit audio formats.

Callum, dynamic range, multi-channel formats, when "more bits is
better," -- and when it's not.

Poor Mike, who just wanted to listen to his CD in the first place!<g>

Perceptual coding (MP3, AC3, blah blah), why the heuristic characteristics
of the Human Auditory System render most discussions of "what's better"
academic -- all fun.

*BUT*, these things are probably better done at the next beer meeting! :)

Phil M.
Chief Engineer, Hotdish Mastering (now when I feel like it.)
Past President, Upper Midwest Section, Audio Engineering Society
Linux geek who bought an SGI to get a decent soundcard. :)