So how can a great system solve less than great recordings

@riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook

re: "It would pay to do your "homework" as to what recordings sound best for each title you want in your collection".

Very good idea-- not so easy to put into practice!

I've given up on S. Hoffman forums as one never knows what sort of system participants have or what they consider to be good sound. 

I followed some recommendations based on their "shoot-outs" and was disappointed. 

Really, the only truly reliable source of "recommendation" is one's own ears, listening to one's own system. 

Now playing one of my two Better Records. Yes, it is a big step up.
OK, they are worth it. Now more than ever! Goes from the sound of humans to the sound of G-d. A religious experience.
But I still look forward to every “regular” record.

That is my experience as well. When listening to my "regular" records it is real easy to be happy. Beyond happy. They sound wonderful! Especially sometimes when the system is really nice and warm and sounding good, it is easy to think, "How much better can it get?"

But then I put on a White Hot Stamper and instantly, "What were you thinking???!" lol! They are totally better! Even though some like Silk Degrees the noise level on my Hot Stamper is so much worse than my "regular" copy - which actually is a Half Speed Mastered audiophile pressing, and pretty good. But the Hot Stamper is so much better sound quality I just have to put up with the noise, it is so worth it.

My Super Hot copy of Sinatra-Basie is so good the last guy here said it was the best he ever heard anything, anywhere. Well who am I to argue? ;)

It just goes to show how hard this is, how many variables, a lot of them no one would ever imagine could matter. Then you put on two examples of the exact same record and they sound completely different. After a while you begin to realize just how hard it is to even be sure when you say "recording" if you really are hearing the recording, or the pressing of the recording, or the particular copy of the pressing of the recording or....?

I listen to music that I love, not the fidelity of a recording for the sake of its sound. The very idea of Audiophile recordings makes me disgusted. My kit is very resolving with a Brinkmann Balance, OTL amplifiers, and field-coiled loudspeakers. Now do I hear that some recordings are better than others? Sure! Do I wish some of my favorites sounded better? Also, a sure thing! Now I find that say, a line-contact cartridge, setup properly with good SRA and zenith alignment, and having a “right” pressing makes a huge difference, perhaps a decided one, but I never pursue sound over performance and my particular music favorites. Never(.) Often this way of retrieval reduces the noise and dramatically increases the fidelity, but there are no simple and universal answers. Guess that’s why I bristle at the idea of being an audiophile. There may well be more forgiving equipment in its portrayal and yet still be highly resolving, but you can’t fix what wasn’t captured.

@ghdprentice: 

"I have always been very careful to navigate my evolving system towards greater fidelity but to stay slightly back from ultra detailed / revealing. One step to far and many recordings sound bad... there are at least two kinds of bad... lack of dynamics and noisy harsh. I am very turned off by noisy / harsh. I want to listen to the music not the system... I want an emotional connection with the music, not to be sure I clearly hear the 2nd violinist move his foot"

+1 

Mr Sayles
have great respect for your knowledge.  I may revisit vinyl someday but thats a financial rabit hole i want to stay away from.   For now i am staying content with the streaming side.