Two Type of sound and listener preference are there more?

First  a couple of admissions:
1: I have the smallest audiophile phallus in this conversation
2: I am a fanboy of Dave Audiodoctor. He has a wonderful small shop with an incredible inventory and lots of patience and spent hours moving equipment in and out for me and my wife.

Having gotten that off my chest, now my comments.

I once read an article by someone who went out with a coffee reviewer. These are the people who test coffees. They do it black, no sugar slurping sips and rolling them around in their mouths before spitting them out. The writer was amazed that the reviewer had his coffee with sugar and cream. When asked about it, the reviewer said that he was drinking the coffee for enjoyment at that moment, and not to review.

In my mind, it is about enjoying listening to the music.
Whatever floats your boat is right FOR YOU.
My new amplifier, Primaluna Dialogue HP with KT150 tubes has a remote that can change from triode to ultralinear. There are recordings that IN MY MIND sound better in one mode than the other, and the next recording might be the opposite. This will depend on the type of music, the way it was recorded and my mood.

I had visited a number of shops and listened to a number of very nice speakers. When I went to Dave's shop I again listened to a number of speakers at different price points, sizes and construction.
For me, the speakers I chose were a pair of Vivid Oval 1.5s. I felt like I was glued or velcroed to my seat. I just didn't want to get up. I went back to the shop and had the same experience and bought the speakers.
Several months later and an upgrade to my amplifier, I have the same experience every time I listen.

There were other speakers that Dave clearly preferred. He explained his reasoning clearly, but he respected my reaction to these speakers. Again I have no second thoughts. If I looked at impedance, frequency response, off axis response, etc, it would not matter one iota, I like the sound, and I want to listen.

We have all heard systems that for no clear reason from which we wanted to walk away. The last thing any of us want to have is "listener fatigue."

Aside from a classical concert hall, all of the music to which we listen is amplified and manipulated.

The one thing I think we on which I think we can all agree is that compression and loss of dynamic range is not consistent with "live" music even when amplified and needs to be avoided.

When I met my wife, my therapist said that she "resonated" with me.

I think that my system also has to resonate with me..

It is certainly wonderful to feel happy and satisfied from a listening session. It’s understandable to expect higher levels, greater versions of those events.

Now, we experience ’things’ whenever we can name them.
Perhaps here we seek the experience itself.
This would make ’being happy’ a thing experienced.
What then is ’the experience’?

Every artist says, "It’s something beyond words, but here are some ideas."
I get some of ’that experience’ hearing artists up close and live, and when playing music myself. I am never thinking ’I’m happy’ until it’s over.

This would mean always
A: Seek deeper experiences, not greater satisfaction.
B: Expect to simply recognize an experience when ’it’ happens.
C: ’It’ can happen with one change in a system, unexpectedly,
D: and most ’deeply’ while playing the best artists, who commune with the deepest places.

It has helped to remember
I’ve no idea what the best artists wish me to experience.
Poor gear reduces the artistry and mastery of the best artists, blocking deeper connection.
Someone right next to me may not be wired to make the connection.
Perhaps he or she is not really into the arts, beyond "I like that."
I am glad they are happy!
The world is a better place right then and there anyway!

Does not the above seem right to keep in mind while striving to make systems better?
Granted, it’s deep and hard to discuss, but that’s music! Or any art.

Does this fit with anything you’ve been thinking about?

Roy
Green Mountain Audio

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Roy, 

A good sound system's job is to accurately reproduce the recording which in itself is a snapshot in time.

You have absolutetly no idea what the original recording sounded like you can only imagine what it would sound like if you were there.

As to deeper meaning there isn't any. If the reproduced sound moves you then it has deeper meaning for you. 

One personas nirvanaha is another persons hell. 

Everyone responds to stimuli differently, if you are in a good mood that system could sound wonderful if you are in a poor one you may not respond favorably. Art and beauty and meaning are all open to interpretation. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@audiotroy 

I'm usually with you on your posts, however this one has me searching for meaning... : )

As to deeper meaning there isn't any.

Is this nihilism?  

You have absolutetly no idea what the original recording sounded like

I imagine some do. I of course do not know if @royj   was present at the recording session, but the sentence comes across as personal. Did you mean "WE" as in most of us?

@royj  I enjoyed your post. Good stuff!

Yes if Royj was at the session then he can use that session as a barometer.

The reality is we have  no idea of what a John Coltrane performance was actually sounding like unless we were there. 

Many mastering engineers can alter tonal balance, add echo and reverb and change the actual taped performance to make a recording sound good as a finished product. 

Not all recording and mastering engineers belive in a more hands off approach. 

Again if that particular performance moved Royj great for Royj that doesn't mean another listener will find that same sound to be as good.

We set up a Naim system with ATC SCM 40 on a Naim NAC 272, 250dr, XPS system with Isotek power conditioning, all high performance cabling, and the sound was very realistic, with an excellent sense of image width depth, clarity and dynamics. The top end was very clear.

We played Beatles a Hard Days Night and it sounded like a great 60's recording, with a tad bit of brittleness on top, went to Black Sabath and it was spooky. Played some more modern recordings and the sound was more refined. 

The point is the Beatles recording sounded like a recording from its time, the slight hardness was in the recording. and the system accurately conveyed that, if you don't like reality a system such as this one might not be to your tastes, YMMV

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ