Do you trust your system?


I was constantly upgrading gear, demoing songs, reading reviews, trying to find out why I had the feeling that the song I was playing shouldn’t sound the way it does. Something off or lacking, I luckily found a set of equipment and a room setup that if a song is off, it’s likely recorded that way. I trust my system to do a decent job.  I wonder do others get to a point where they are more critical of mastering techniques than something wrong with their equipment? Admittedly, it’s easier to say how a piece of gear or cable made some significant difference, but in what exactly since the music sources are so wildly manipulated by engineers?

dain

@jrw1971  thanks. You got it. I cringe when anyone refers to gear “sounding warm” or whatever, since it doesn’t make sounds. And sorry to say those’ reference recordings’ are manipulated as hell to sound good on any gear! That’s the art here. I guess if you recorded something and played it back, guess what? You’d probably like it, because you trust it. I recall hearing a million dollar system 30 years ago, fed by a professional tape machine recording of Chicago symphony. I guess it sounded good, but I wanted to play James Brown sex machine live. Well. Disappointingly it sounded like crap. Years later I wonder if I’m able to appreciate that system, but the more I hear of the fancy stuff the less it impresses since much music I love isn’t really designed to be heard this way. 

I will fully "trust" my system when I could identify a Dac capable of throwing in wide/deep soundstange AND nimble bass notes at the price I am willing to pay.  Until then, as much appreciation I had with my power amp and speakers, there is still something to be desired for my system.  If you have come across such a Dac under $1k, let me know please.  

When a particular recording sounds off I blame it on the recording. I have a far greater number that sound wonderful. One must have trust in the system as it interacts with the room. I feel I have that. 

Primary faults for me are those that are too closely mic (sibilance)  or lack soundstage.  

The better is your audio system, the closer it takes you to all pros and contras of a particular sound recording. From there, it is a matter of a taste which kind of sound you like more (I personally like both, tube and class D amp sound, i cannot say which one i like more, but i admit that a SET tube amp may deliver a most realistic sound). And a few thousand dollars upgrade in tour digital stuff will have less influence on the SQ of your system than the quality of the sound recording of a particular album.