How can you tell the quality of the recording?

i'm with ths.

i've spent most of the eve listening to my music server radio station. have not heard a bad recording yet, though i surely like some better than others.

if you go in with a preconception of what you think a recording should sound like you will probably be dissapointed. the guys who made the recording probably had a different idea. if your system can convey that, you have scored.

Every system will have a group of recordings that simply jive better with that system. What sounds good on one system may not sound good on another and vice versa.

Let me interject a little logic here. IF, your system HAS EVER played a recordings that met all the positive things you are seeking in reproduced sound, even JUST ONCE, that means that the system is capable of playing at the highest levels. So if the next recording does not sound up to expectations, IT HAS to be the recording. Unless your system has a grudge against Jazz, or classical or tom waits etc....... then it's personal.

My system doesn't like country music. It always sounds bad when someone makes me play it.

the hair on my neck does a pretty good job of figuring out how good a recording is. amount of teeth grinding comes in a close second.