Sound and Music

I will admit to falling into the "trap" you've highlighted. After a long hiatus, I re-started my HiFi hobby; with all the new technological and evolutionary developments in gear since I last dabbled (some 25yrs ago), I was like a kid in a sweetshop. but, I didn't factor in that my sonic preferences, and musical tastes have also evolved.

I've chased high dynamic contrasts, and detail, but realised that while my system sounded impressive, it didn't really impart "soul", I found it dispassionate if that makes sense. But I have now, eventually, come out of the other side. What I find I'm actually looking for is to feel the music again. For instance, I've bought a pre-loved DAC, which I'm using in place of my main DAC at the moment; the reason being, it has a much more organic, lusher sound character which I find far more desirable.I did a similar thing with my integrated prior to this, for the same reasons.

We all enter this hobby with an innate love of music, but can get lost along the way, chasing an ideal that maybe doesn't exist, or if it does may actually not be what is desired to fulfil the musical yearning.

Recently added a pair of GanFET monoblocs to my system and doubt I will have to go any further. A sigh of relief.

Music only.

Although when I choose between 2 DAPs I pick the more involving one.

Speaker systems have additional factors for consideration.

I'd say that when I was searching for sound I discovered jazz and found that I kind of like it.  (I cannot say the same about kind of liking classical.  Yet.)

I'd also say that I would prefer sound AND music, but if given the choice of music I like that sounds (due to the quality of the source material's mastering, mixing, recording) like hammered dogcrp and music I am not crazy about that sounds great, I'd pick the good sound over good music.  That is if I could only have one or the other.

OP,

I completely agree that this is a tremendously important topic in a forum with a mixture of experience levels.

I certainly started looking for better sound to hear the music better and by and large the two improved together. Somewhere in the 1990’s after a good twenty years of the pursuit I noticed there was a line that when crossed resulted in detailed sterile sound… not musically fulfilling.

I am highly analytical. So when pursuing high end audio I would go into analytical mode and try and isolate variables that are obvious… detail, slam, imaging. I drilled down to, micro-details, and all sorts of nuances. These all led me (can lead you) away from musicality. You can have them all, but it is really easy to focus the way I did. Some folks get it from the start… typically folks that follow tubes from the beginning.

Not to be too repetitive. I went out to find out what real music sounded like… ten years season tickets to the symphony, acoustic jazz concerts, and sit with every piano played and soloist I could. The result was to change my emphasis to rhythm / pace and authentic presentation of details (not exaggerated / highlighted). Then climbed up better sound quality with this as top priority. This led me to an incredibly musical, relaxing system to listen to, that just gets out of the way. The system is invisible. It has all the details, but in perspective, it has wonderful imaging (without resorting to elevated treble to accomplish this), and dynamics… but not artificial. When I go from my system to the symphony, I get the same experience. Same with a rock concert… only without the horrible distortion and deafening volume.

It took me a long time to recognize the difference from putting together an analytical sounding system and a musical one. A well worth distinction to understand as soon as possible in pursuing the high end. I know lots of folks with very expensive systems that still haven’t figured it out. If you listen for 45 minutes to your system and can get up and do something else without tremendous effort you may be one of those.