I have been a professional sound engineer in one of the biggest studios in Switzerland for around 30 years, so feel free to ask any questions.
I am often surprised about the beliefs among hifi people and audiophiles about studios and studio engineers.
There are many recordings that are not as good as they can be. Only a small percentage are real masterworks. There are some recording engineers like the late Al Schmidt who really know what they are doing, and a lot of people who do the best they can, politely said. Also, most often the equipment used is mediocre at best. A microphone placed some inches apart from the best spot, wrong mic choice, bad recording room acoustics, bad choices in the mixing and / or mastering stage, all diminish the quality of the outcome, and can sum up to something I don’t want to listen to.
It is ironic that audiophiles often listen to music that was mixed and mastered on equipment that costs a small percentage of what the audiophiles paid for their system. Often, sound engineers say "Give me loudspeakers with bad resolution, because otherwise I will never finish my job".
"With my great system, it now sounds like it sounded in the studio" is a silly audiophile myth.
These are just some pretty random spotlights on "daily studio life".
But yes, recording quality is most important.