Enjoying music and high fidelity reproduction can be, but are not necessarily the same thing. For instance, I used to like driving around in my dad's 67 Comet because I enjoyed the heck out of listening to his AM radio: it was a blast, though certainly not high fidelity. I enjoyed the music and songs themselves because of what they did for me mentally and emotionally. I got into them in my head, and my mind made them sound, not like they did on the radio, but the way they had to sound to be what I needed them to be. My mind completed what the radio could not. I guess it worked that way for the music I wanted to hear when I wanted to hear it.
However, I surely did enjoy live performances too, and of different kinds of music: rock, religious, classical, jazz. But not all live performances were good or particularly inspiring. In these instances though, I only heard what was actually there, which was usually mediocre. But when it was good, it was like nothing else. Man, I could listen to that stuff all day. That's what drew me into high-end audio: trying to create that magic anytime I wanted.
Of course, as when live, not all recorded performances are particularly good or inspiring. Then too we have some terrible recording sound quality. And when our electronics get better and more resolving, we hear the mediocrity, noise, and distortions all the better. But I also think that some high-end equipment is designed to sound a certain way, or create a false illusion of reality. I have heard sources, electronics, speakers and cables that, IMO, colored the sound unacceptably. And when the sound is so influenced, it is covering up the actual recorded performance, regardless of how live, pretty, or clear and extended it may seem.
But if we are going to enjoy music reproduction, it has to be about the music. If it isn't, then we became audiophiles by accident: we all want to have something good, and maybe we wandered into a highfi shop instead of a camera shop or computer store. Of course there is more and I could go on, but I won't.
However, I surely did enjoy live performances too, and of different kinds of music: rock, religious, classical, jazz. But not all live performances were good or particularly inspiring. In these instances though, I only heard what was actually there, which was usually mediocre. But when it was good, it was like nothing else. Man, I could listen to that stuff all day. That's what drew me into high-end audio: trying to create that magic anytime I wanted.
Of course, as when live, not all recorded performances are particularly good or inspiring. Then too we have some terrible recording sound quality. And when our electronics get better and more resolving, we hear the mediocrity, noise, and distortions all the better. But I also think that some high-end equipment is designed to sound a certain way, or create a false illusion of reality. I have heard sources, electronics, speakers and cables that, IMO, colored the sound unacceptably. And when the sound is so influenced, it is covering up the actual recorded performance, regardless of how live, pretty, or clear and extended it may seem.
But if we are going to enjoy music reproduction, it has to be about the music. If it isn't, then we became audiophiles by accident: we all want to have something good, and maybe we wandered into a highfi shop instead of a camera shop or computer store. Of course there is more and I could go on, but I won't.