What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

Well, if its expensive, it should also sound pretty darn good.

Aren't expensive things supposed to be better?

Someone forwarded this link to me, after I posted my comments. Sorry if it's a duplicate ...

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0601/audiohell.htm

Socrates,

That's a fantastic article. One of the best I've seen on the topic.

Audio hell indeed! Stay away!!!

I hope to see more and more "born again" audiophiles after reading that!

I agree, an interesting article. I enjoyed the criteria for diagnosing audio nervosa, but I was even more interested in their proposed "Comparison by Contrast" method of evaluating audio equipment...

...play a larger number of recordings of vastly different styles and recording technique on two different systems to hear which system reveals more differences between the recordings.

According to Norwitz and Qvortrup, whichever system reveals larger differences among recordings is the more accurate system. And the more accurate the system, the more it conveys a recording's uniqueness...

Only if your audio system is designed to be as accurate as possible -- that is, only if it is dedicated to high contrast reproduction -- can it hope to recover the uniqueness of any recorded musical performance.

I wish I had known about that article when I wrote my very first post on Audiogon, in which I said...

How do you judge your system's neutrality?

Here’s an answer I’ve been kicking around: Your system is becoming more neutral whenever you change a system element and you get the following results:

(1) Individual pieces of music sound more unique.
(2) Your music collection sounds more diverse.

That comment ignited a firestorm of argument reaching 396 posts. It was a bit of a shock for a total newbie.

N & Q use the word 'accuracy,' whereas I used the word 'neutrality,' but our meanings are essentially identical, as is our proposed method for evaluating systems. It's an interesting case of Multiple Discovery.

Bryon

Reflecting back on something so long ago is always fun. FWIW I'm still very comfortable with the term 'resolution' I preferred as expressed in my first post. But we need not go back there again. :-)