Ive been recording my voice in a pro studio recently. Asked the engineer if I could use my Rode Classic 1 instead of their U87.
My voice definitely sounded way better through the Rode, but then the engineer said "of course, I can get the same sound from the U87 with eq anyway..." Kinda bursts your bubble.
But as someone else said, a lot of it is getting so your ears are "trained" by experience to hear subtle differences. And then you get old and go deaf.
