What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

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!

Onhwy61, I hear you and thought I addressed it in my post. Of course you can have an emotional response to a song even on a car radio with a bunch of road noise. Sing along. Cry. Laugh. But there is an additional magic when hearing it live because of the nuances of emotion, the nuances of the instruments (including voice) and the clarity broadcast in a live performance. A good stereo should also accomplish that. The musicians grab a hold and don't let go at an entirely different level. Subtle but distinct to my heart. You can't not pay attention.