What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

IT should sound:

enjoyable, exhilarating, powerful, delicate, enthralling.

A lot like good live music but not exactly the same.

Basically, you can't get enough!

It should not sound:

dull, boring, distorted, irritating.

Like some live music.

Basically, it either captures you or not. Its an emotional thing in the end that is enabled by technology.

A 'high end' stereo system succeeds when it reminds me of what I hear live. It need not replicate live music, I'll leave that quest for someone else. 'Reminds me' is good enough. My imagination will take over then.

When this occurs I credit the recording engineers mostly, equipment manufacturers next, and for selection and set up of a system I'll take the credit. And if it just happens to be a great performance as well I'm in hog heaven.

Interestingly I think before I became an audio hobbyist I actually listened to more 'music'. Now I seem to listen to a lot of 'sound' and it is harder to get into poorer recordings even when the performance is quite good.

I think the key is understanding that listening to music is largely an emotional experience. Everything else is just a means to that end.

Down deep, most audiophiles are driven by emotion as much as anything else. We're a bunch of emotional softies at heart.

Even Audiofeil!

o--o
\__/

If you need a high end system to feel the soul present in music, then something is wrong. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong, but I know it's wrong, very wrong.

Newbee, too bad. Everyone's envy is the guy who never heard of Audiogon, has 5000 cds, and a cheapo system. Onhwy61 said it all!