How do you know when a stereo sounds good?

I will tell you that listening to the Phish concert recorded in the Berkeley Greek Theater in 2010 sounded pretty damn good on my stereo last night. Interleaving the songs between Quboz and Tidal MQA was really instructive in showing how much better the Quboz stream sounded!

When the stylus hits the groove of my favorite Howlin’ Wolf album, and my dog starts wagging his tail feathers. 
 For digital, that’d be Steppenwolf. 

Not at all being a smart ass but it's called your ears. Listen to what to what your ears are hearing.  We all can try to steer you in the right direction but at the end of the day your ears will let you know what sounds good to you. Please do not let a audio sales men sale you snake oil. 

Very simple- it should sound real.  There are times with great source material when my system sounds like I am at a live performance.  Not only does the performance sound like it is in the room but my room is no longer my room but the space the recording was made in.  

Very simple- it should sound real. There are times with great source material when my system sounds like I am at a live performance. Not only does the performance sound like it is in the room but my room is no longer my room but the space the recording was made in.

I too like it when a stereo’s sound field transcends the boundaries of my listening room. Tonal accuracy for me is not enough if the music sounds as if it’s coming out of the speakers, or with only a small envelope in between and perhaps slightly outside the speaker cabinets. My design criteria is always number one tonal accuracy, but number two is spatial accuracy and dynamics. I just can’t get excited about any system that throws a Lilliputian sound stage.

Yours in music,

Ted Denney III

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.