prof,
I have been wondering for the longest time, why some song I know really well sounds much more exciting on the radio then when I play a CD. These days, it would have to be FM but I gave up on current radio programming at about the time I bought Sansui TU-717. Now, I own a pretty (to me) machine of no use.
The only radio I listen to these days, and that is most of my listening time, is from the Internet and from far away place(s). It still feels like "radio". I never listen to radio while driving. I may be a minority, I know.
You might have really started unraveling it for me with "element of surprise" comment. Maybe, something that will "escape" or "here now, gone in a minute" excitement. I really do not know. Speaking in audiogon terms, it cannot be "natural", "sound quality", etc. I draw a parallel to new clothes. Everybody has a different and positive feeling when wearing new clothes. It does not seem that there should be any reason for it, but it does happen.
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