What's the rest of your system Nick? The reason I ask is that, yes, I believe a person is capable of hearing the differnce, as many reviwers swear up and down they can, and who am I to doubt them. However, a recent review mentioned in hi-fi+ from other side opf the pond made a great point: to hear a differnce in the small stuff (tweaks, isolation, connectors etc), a persons's system must be capable of reproducing the amount of resolution to hear such differnces. I also imagine this will be somewhat dependant on amplification, as I would personally be hard pressed to hear a differnce in subtle changes with the amount of warmth I generally associate with tubes. I say order two pair, one with, one without, and you decide, as I think Chris has a 30 day trial period.