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Accuracy vs. Enjoyment

Would you rather have a system that accurately portrays the grooves (or pits) in the record or CD,
or one which sounds good on the majority of discs?
Acknowledging that not all media are created equal, the best system will sound best on the best, most accurate discs.  But what if the great majority of average sounding discs don’t measure up, and indeed are annoying compared to the best?
What then?

128x128rvpiano
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,666 posts
 
I think I’m raising this question because of my current setup on which good CDs are sounding wonderful, but others not so much.  I had to send  my  vintage CJ preamp out for repair three weeks ago and have replaced it temporarily with a solid state unit.  This problem was not really so evident when the CJ was in the system and performing optimally.  I guess I’ll have to patiently wait til I get it back to get consistency.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,883 posts
 
The more accurate my system gets, the more I enjoy it. 👍
To me, to be more accurate is to be more realistic.

All the best,
Nonoise
inna
7,296 posts
 
Yeah, this includes as little distortion as possible. It's amazing, provided you have a decent equipment, how much you can achieve with good cables.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
Depends on what % of overly etched recordings are in your collection and in rotation.  If your system is ruthlessly accurate and lots of your discs sound bad, where's the enjoyment in that?
jim204
881 posts
 
Has nobody ever thought of getting the most ruthlessly accurate system you can and tailoring the good and bad recordings by software. I happen to have a lot of money in my home built PC and it is chock full of anti jitter software and I have Sony Sound Forge and Magix Sequoia installed. When I come across a lousy CD no worries as all I do is tailor it to my system , if I want to tame the high frequencies or add bass to a dry recording then all it takes is a short time in my progams and it sounds great my ears and I mean only my ears because I am the one who purchased the disc and I am the one who is going to listen to it. Now we all know what one person mixes on a recording does not suit every one so this is my solution and I can then if I am happy with them store them on de-fractionalised solid state hard drives and if I want I then store the good CDs and sell on the duffers. And the software if it's good enough for the BBC it is certainly good enough for me  and I happen to think that the BBC can mix superb recordings You should hear their Proms through my Stax and Sennheiser phones, it can be trully awesome at the right levels.
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