Consensus on a good sounding system

How often do we need to agree upon if a setup sounded good to one's hearing? The answer would be probably not! As human we can't agree upon anything, in fact nothing at all, unless we are signatories to an agreement! So will an arbitration by say 10 or even 100 learned & experienced audiophiles to listen to a setup(which could only be conducted at different times), be or would be able to judge if a setup to be considered good sounding, if even at all? Again probably not! Why is it so difficult to even judge if a setup sounded good enough to meet some of the important hifi parameters of good sound? Personal preferences, prejudices, likes and dislikes, used to a certain signature sound, and not used to other types of presentations?


Do you think that experienced audiophiles could provide some insights into this 'All Time Arguments' as to why different persons would perceived the sound reproduction of a system to various degree of excellence or lack of it for that matter? We have seen/read arguments some even out of hand in some blogs, forums and mailing lists, as to what quality of sound constituted.
Will there be a sort of ISO for music/sound reproductions in the near future?