Interesting thread.
My personal preference has been changing from a very detailed (cold, analytical?) sound to a more musical sound. It's interesting how some systems thread the music together and let you hear the music, the nuances, and the pace, while others let you hear all the imperfections of a recording and are hyper detailed yet the music sounds disjointed and uninvolving.
I think my assesment of components within my system will now be strongly based on how I feel while listening to music. Is it involving? Does it draw me in? Does my mind constantly wander onto something else other than the music? If it does, how quickly will the music draw me back in and gain my attention?
My assesments of components before were based more upon the micro details, bass extension, brightness or harshness of the highs, blackness of the background, imaging, etc. Sure, all of the aforementioned is important, but did you notice how many times I mentioned "Music" in this paragraph vs. the previous one?
I used to listen more to my equipment but now I prefer to listen to the music.
