It’s the audiophile’s dilemma. You’re not alone. Most of the music I’m most emotionally invested in sounds terrible. So I’ve developed an appreciation for well recorded jazz/blues. It sucks but it’s hard to listen to bad recordings now and 90% of the music I grew up with and love is really poorly recorded. Luckily most Pink Floyd isn’t too bad. :) The upside is, I’ve come to genuinely like jazz. Some of it I can’t listen to, the crazy, phrenetic Freeform type makes zero sense to me and I won’t listen to it no matter how well it’s recorded. :)
But there’s definitely something appealing about listening to great recordings that are minimally processed, and showcase very pure sounding acoustic instruments. Love hearing the texture, timbre, and realism of the various instruments.
In the $3000 range i’d be looking at Dynaudio special 40, or Q acoustics. Maybe some 705 S3’s or used 805 d3’s.
I no longer waste too much energy analyzing too deeply what my motives are in developing an appreciation of well recorded acoustic jazz or blues, no reason to beat myself up. To thine own self be true. If it makes you happy, to quote Sheryl Crow, it can’t be that bad. 👍🏼
