Is This the Essence of "The Audiophile Dilemma?

@ps - I forgot to add that to have the greatest success you have to start at the speakers AND the source since nobody can agree on where to start. Focusing on everything is always the best policy.

Also, I’ve noticed that if someone asks for an opinion on a specific item like interconnects they will get advice ranging from a specific interconnect to every other possible interconnect to needing to upgrade another component or tweak in their system to treating their room (aka @erik_squires) to everyones crazy (aka @jasonbourne52)

The call outs are intended in good fun, we all have our roles to play :-)

@mapman  *LOL*  Yeah, some warm milk with an adult additive ought to help, too.... ;)

Enjoy what you're doing to enjoy what you do the rest of the time with it.

Which part of that you place first is basically the difference....or not. *S*😏

One's gear can't replace live, whereas live can disappoint v. a reproduction of the same set....

"The roar of the grease paint, the smell of the crowd...."

How much spent on concerts (esp. now....tix ain't trix,no...) v. the mass you've assembled so patiently, patently....is an interesting contrast to muse...

....but then, I can listen to White Zombie being More Human Than Human, and feel safe from the crowd... ;)

Just good clean fun loud.....J

 

At some point I realized that no matter how good my system gets it will never approximate the experience of sitting in a concert hall with a live orchestra.  And in the realm of pop there is rarely a master tape, due to all the processing in constructing songs and mixing.  Therefore since there is no way of getting “The Truth” I have to settle for an illusion of it.  Some times the flavors vary, but it is still an illusion.  This realization has made it very easy to be cured of Upgraditis 

I saved some quotes in a list at the top of my audio notes.

These are the first three.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. - Epicurius

Since the beginning of high-end audio reproduction, there has been a notion promoted: It's going to sound like the real thing. That's a fantasy. It doesn't sound like the real thing, and it never can. … [the goal is] an acceptable sound, which provides the maximum amount of information contained in the software within the limitations of the listening environment. - Richard Sequerra

When I go to Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center in Philadephia and sit in my favorite seat to listen to the Philadelphia Orchestra, I realize that 137 years after the original Edison phonograph audio technology still hasn’t quite caught up with unamplified live music in a good acoustic venue. To be sure, my state-of-the-art stereo system renders a startlingly faithful imitation of a grand piano, a string quartet, or a jazz trio, but a symphony orchestra or a large chorus? Close but no cigar. - Peter Aczel

First:

No recording play back ressemble the real live event or reproduce it.... It is an ACOUSTIC translation in your room... Not a reproduction which is more an electronical expression than an acoustic expression...

 

Second:

It does not matter, if we suppose your gear choice is minimally right, what price tag you had paid for you system...it is a secondary factor...

 

Third:

 

Matter first and last the way you will embed your gear mechanically, electrically and acoustically.... None of these three different controls methods will be able to replace the other one, nevermind their price...

 

Four:

 

If you are not in heaven with your system now it is probably not the system fault, if not wrongly chosen to begin with, but a non adressed problem in vibration control, or a too higher noise floor in the house uncontrolled, or an acoustic problems and lack of psycho-acoustic basic installation or all that at the same time...

High price tag+no embeddings method = probable unsatisfaction

 

Five:

 

My own system is 500 bucks vintage, beat all my 8 well modified headphones and make me laugh at any upgrade possible and i am afraid now at the idea of buying any upgrade because of the price/S.Q. ratio... There is a better system than mine read me right.... Half of the systems displayed here are better than mine .... But they are not well embedded...Then most people are frustrated, resigned or throw their money in upgrade...

There exist, accessible to most, basically good piece of gear well embedded in a minimal acoustic TRESHOLD of sound quality, after you reach it, you listen music smiling and forgetting any upgrade, even a good improving upgrade will not appeal so much, without frustration...

 

That is the truth i lived through and i learned with listenings experiments in the last 10 years, especially the last two years....Money dont deliver high quality sound, well embeddings controls will do...Spare you money, listen and think... If a non crafty man like me was able to do it you will do it,  at some extent, near this qualitative minimal threshold...

 

 

There is NO audiophile dilemma. there is only people who dont know that we all must learn to listen and we must learn how to hear...Price tag dont replace acoustic basic education and experiments...And it may cost peanuts in a dedicated room and nothing is more fun...But it takes much time...