And the biggest influence on sound quality is...


The quality of the recording itself.

Then the room, the setup, the speakers, and lastly the  front end.

I've got recordings that make my system sound horrible, and I've got recordings that make my system sound absolutely wonderful.

None of the gear changes have had that much impact on sound quality.

 

 

tomcarr

The room and the system are what they are, recording quality easily the greatest variable. Now, one  can manipulate and change audio components and room treatments, same doesn't hold true for any particular recording.

This is a fun thought experiment.

If your source is LP, then I would argue that your playback system (turntable, arm, cartridge, setup) is most important.  Imagine you had near mint pressing of Kind of Blue or Aja, and you played it on a $35 Crossley.  It would sound like sh*t.  However, given a decent playback system, the recording is next.

Digital is very different as you can get acceptable sound from a modest or inexpensive source.  Here I would put the recording quality first.

Then it gets difficult.  Speakers are very important but require a suitable amplifier and proper setup in a room that they work well in.  Too many dependencies, but if I had to rank: Speakers > Set-Up > Room > Amplification.  Then comes the fun of cables, power, and tweaks.

Two separate issues are being conflated here. The recording is not a part of the system, but an input to the system, and its quality is a fixed condition beyond the listener's control. The relevant question is what's the strongest determinant WITHIN the playback system/environment.

It’s first the quality of the recording in my experience. Garbage in, garbage out. Then the speakers and then the source - streamer or CD into the DAC. Then preamp, amp and finally cables. The room is a wild card. I have a system that travels between 2 places which are very different. One is a listening room that’s been treated and the other is an open room with no treatment. My best system sounds better in both rooms than the old system I had.