How much is about the recording

@russ69 

Given enough tools, I'm pretty sure I could make a bad recording at least sound acceptable. But I still agree with what you are saying.

 

Oh for sure.  Just as radio stations do with compression & graphic equalisation.

In my experience the “better” the hifi (particularly speakers) they could indeed make good recordings sound better than I ever heard, but bad recordings?  They were laid bare & I found I didn’t listen to many of my old favourites anymore.

I was very briefly sucked in by hifi dealers who would switch my music for some whiney woman & it sounded great, but not music I ever want to listen to.

As we know, a lot of guys get obsessed with their boxes.    

I don't have near the audio quality system that most of you have.  I read this forum mostly for info.  But I do own a vintage set of DQ10's and an '80s vintage Proton amp....sister company to NAD I believe.  I'll let my phono and CD player remain un-named as some of you would scoff. LoL  But one thing I really noticed after getting the 10's was the quality of recordings in both formats.  Bad ones sound even more bad.  Most Jazz and Classical sound pretty exceptional...and most electronic as well.  But the rest can run the full gamut from absolute garbage to stellar.  jmho anyway.

@singintheblues

I was very briefly sucked in by hifi dealers who would switch my music for some whiney woman & it sounded great, but not music I ever want to listen to.

This is a common used but altogether highly misleading practice that needs to be challenged wherever it’s encountered.

In such instances the reluctance to vary the musical demonstration material seems almost palpable.

A fear of exposure?

In effect the demonstrators are themselves tacitly admitting that the recording is far more important than the equipment that it’s being played on.

Without actually saying so.

In the meantime the customer is being set up for one huge purchase disappointment.

It’s particularly disgusting to see seasoned reviewers using this same tactic, time and time again.

I don’t think I’ve yet seen a reviewer/ salesman who had similar musical tastes as myself. They either don’t like popular music or don’t like what it tells them about the equipment on review.

When was the last time you heard this at a show?

...we sort of need a few in each gendre, maybe even including Country...

Jamey Johnson "That Lonesome Song".  Album of the year, not one bad cut.

When you finally hear a good direct-to-disk LP, you realize how mediocre most recorded music sounds. But there are almost no direct-to-disk LP’s which contain music you actually want to hear more than once, let alone love.

Finding gear which gives you what is most important to you in music, yet isn’t so "ruthless-revealing" that you become "too aware" of the limited quality of the sound of the music as heard through your system, is a long journey. One of learning what compromises you are willing to make, what you are willing to sacrifice for "the greater good."

Then there are the recordings which sound SO bad that the sound actually makes not just listening to the music, but being able to appreciate it, impossible. There's nothing you can do about THAT.