Do you listen mainly to Audiophile CDs and records?

My priority is always the music first. I have everything from bootlegs to MQA. I would hate to think I missed a great performance or great music because I wouldn't listen to it. Sure I love sound quality but, I have listened to poor quality boots to hear a stellar performance!

RV, I expect that the Telefunken set is rather rare. I bought mine at the Ring Festival in Seattle, where it was recommended in hushed tones. And at the cost, it should have been. Even so, it's been a good bargain; 35 years and still quiet as a Seattle Ring audience.

@willemj 

And yet sometimes the old recordings are just magically better. I'm thinking of the first complete major piece recorded in stereo, Beethoven's Emperor, performed by Gieseking in 1944 (sic, 1944), released by Varese. 

The performance is just qualitatively superior to any other, including subsequent recordings by Gieseking himself. There's something about hearing anti-aircraft cannon as a counterpoint, that brings the whole Emperor thing into perspective.

At home particularly in the evening I listen to a lot of Bosa Nova, Henry Mancini and similar artist. The audio quality of these recordings sound really good to me. During the day whether on vinyl at home or on satellite radio in the car or work, I rock out with the the likes of the Seeds, Ramons, Zep, JD Mcphearson ETC. 

I guess for me it does have to have a certain level of audio quaility, but I do half the time turn off the audiophile ears and just groove to the performance.

Cheers
JP

Geoffkait     11-06-2017
"Now that I think about it I actually tend to avoid audiophile CDs and recordings like the plague. The only exception would probably be for testing purposes."

What kind of testing do you do with a bad CD?  How well they fly?  🤔