Most everyone in one way or another have touched on my feelings about "neutrality" and "realism" so I won't expound, but I'll tell a quick story. About 26 years ago(give or take) I was just getting into my first "high-end" system ( Musical Concepts modified Hafler DH200amp and DH 101 preamp,Linn Sondek LP-12w/Monster Alpha MC,cassette deck(CD wasn't around yet)and the new DCM Time Windows. This wasn't state-of-the-art but it was musical for me and since I was still trying to complete college and money was tight, I thought it was acceptable. A friend of mine had another system that he was proud of( I can't remember the amplification, but the speakers were some floor-standing Janzen electrostats) so it came down to a competition of who had the best-sounding system. After listening to each other's sytem for many hours on several weekend visits, we each felt our own system was the better set-up. One night, while we were embibing heavily on some Crown Royal bourbon ( we were at my friend's house), my friend looked at me and asked," How can you say your system is better when it is obvious my system sounds better. I told him," Look,your system sounds nice, but mine sounds more life-like and realistic." He then smiled and said,"Well, maybe, but mine sounds better than real." I guess the moral to this story is "realism" is in the ear of the beholder.We all hear differently and what sounds more real to me may not to you.That's why we'll always have the s.s. vs. tube debates,etc., and why a website like Audiogon will never die out as long as there are audiophiles. There are many camps in musicdom and we all need to respect each other's opinion of what sounds best to us.
