2. amps-preamps
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Isn't it really about quality of recording?

Are most of us just chasing our tails?

I mean you listen to a variety of recordings and some sound a lot better than others. Your system has limited impact on how good recordings can be. I am awestruck how some music sounds and clearly my system has nothing to do with it, it all occurred when the music was produced.

We talk about soundstage and imaging and I am not sure all the effort and money put toward a better system can really do that much for most of what we listen to because the quality is lesser than other recordings.

You can walk into a room and hear something that really sounds good and you say wow what an amazing System you have but no!!! It's the recording dummy not the system most of the time. Things don't sound so good it's probably the recording.

The dealers don't wanna talk about Recording quality no one seems to want to talk about it and why is this? Because there's no money to be made here that's why.

 

jumia
wolf_garcia
6,708 posts
 

A great recording of lame music is unlistenable. Great music is great even if it's an older mono mix or something done to a standard that didn't exist yet.  A great sounding system with interesting, well recorded music is ideal.  Also, a great system will reveal mediocre recording quality and that's as it should be, not so much making crap sound good....hi fidelity is revealing.

diminishedchord
26 posts
 

Back in the day, I remember listening to a system in my local audio store. It was back when CDs were coming on the scene. Anyway, the salesman was playing Flim and the BBs, "Tricycle." I was blown away by this recording. I was so impressed that I bought a copy for myself to play on my low-fi SAE receiver through my mid-fi AR speakers. Played on my system, the CD didn't have the slam, dynamics, and sound stage that the system in the stereo shop produced but the CD was still an enjoyable listen time after time after time. Thirty years later, I use that same CD to test systems today. The point being, I learned gorgeously recorded music can make modest systems sound better than usual while making superior systems sound sublime.

yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
764 posts
 

A really good system should enhance the enjoyment of all recordings, whether good or bad. I recently pulled out my original 1977 copy of the Jam's debut album In The City, an album I haven't played for years and was pleasantly how much I enjoyed it despite the fact that it's far from the pinnacle of recording quality. Less good recordings may not stack up in terms of many aspects of the audiophile checklist like soundstaging, tonal balance etc. but that doesn't negate the capacity of a good system to reveal what is actually being played by the musicians - which is, to my mind, more important than the other factors.

secretguy
1,718 posts
 

The OP nails it.

akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,274 posts
 

@hilde45

 

3,348 posts

The idea is to get your system sounding it’s best for the music you like to listen to.

This is clearly the right answer. The alternative would be...what? To pay no attention to your system, I suppose, which is ridiculous.

+1 (emphasis added).

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