"There appear to be no experiments about the ear's performance which
attempt to use subject as
a whole person. Or if there are any, I'd like to know about them."
--Michaelmos

I'm an amateur musician (classical guitar; formerly piano and
harpsichord also) who attends lots of classical, unamplified, concerts
and recitals.

For many years (I'm also 65 years old...), I enjoyed listening to LP's
on my stereo system which has generally been decent and remains so.
When CD's were introduced, I embraced them but soon was noticing that
my listening enjoyment had markedly declined. Eventually it reached
the point that I hardly listened to recorded music any more. These
days, when I do listen to CD's, I have to stop after an hour or so
because I'm feeling so uncomfortable--with a feeling akin to growing
anxiety. I also have always noticed, except on a very few CD's, a
harshness in the sound, mainly when listening with speakers, but also
to a lesser extent with headphone use.

During these post-CD years, my collection of approx. 800 LP's, mainly
classical with some jazz and other genres, had literally gathered dust.
There have been whole years in which I probably did not listen to one
LP.

Recently I decided to give my LP's another go, and behold: I can listen
for hours, with either speakers or headphones, and experience something
close to what I experience when I hear my own live music, or the music
at an (unamplified) concert.

I realize that there's a longstanding a fiercely partisan debate about
the relative accuracy or authenticity of digital versus analog sound.
I can report that analog sound, for me as one accustomed to hearing
live unamplified music virtually daily, is closer to the living
experience than digital reproduction, and that analog sound does not
create uneasiness in me, while digital reproduction on similar-level
equipment, does.

I hope this doesn't sound off-topic; I think it's germane to this
thread because nobody has succeeded yet in demonstrating why people
react differently to different modes of sound reproduction. I believe
this is truly a case where there needs to be consideration of "the
ear's performance" with regard to "the subject as a whole person."