Is a highly discerning system enjoyable?

I went for accuracy in my system because after all the (lost) years of listening to ‘lesser’ systems, I realized that all-the-while I listened I was filtering the sound through my imagination to render what I heard into what I knew (thought) it should sound like.

So now a bad recording sounds bad on my system; but then, it sounds the best it can sound, or maybe it’s best to say, I’m hearing all of it.

I recall my Dad’s Wharfedale W60Ds and a second-tier Pioneer integrated, and I don’t recall ever thinking, ‘what a terrible recording!”

I enjoyed my Dad’s system; it sounded warm and soft, often quite pretty, and all who heard it agreed.

But that system could not and cannot do what mine does: good recordings sound great and great recordings sound amazing.

It never caused me to search into the soundstage and marvel at the remarkable depth, or to ‘see’ the orchestra players in their correct positions, or to say out loud, ‘Wow!’ as I often do now.

@tomcy6 

"You can have a system that lets you hear every detail on a recording and also engages you emotionally, or you can have a system that gets all the detail but none of the emotion."

This approach is entirely incorrect.  Listening to an audio recording with no visuals,  all record of emotion in the performance is transmitted to us by the recording and our play-back system.  We can perceive emotion in the performance only by what we hear.  Therefore if we wish to obtain an authentic impression of the emotion it is essential our system is 'discerning' - OP means 'accurate', discernment is not within the province of inanimate equipment.

It is also essential the recording accurately reproduces the emotion in the original performance.  In many cases this does not occur and failings in the recording cannot be put right by even the most accurate system.  As @prndlus points out, where this occurs we have no way of knowing what was the emotion in the performance.  If you like, the original emotion is fixed but there are two variables and both have to be fixed before we can say anything about the original emotion.

 

My system is very revealing for most wha I play, bad sounds bad, vice versa.,…..

then I play Bathory or some odd demo starts on some of my re releases, and wow, it’s horrible!

not horrible, but it definitely sounded better on my Panasonic rx-c45 back in 83 on a 6th gen cassette from some friends in London, or Budingen.

 

just,play it, there is no perfect, only to us, if you like the music, play it.

enjoy what we have, how far we have come.

my very first stereo was a foot of the bed red fluffy arch which 2 plush sliding seats rolled under it.

had I think 2 8 “ speakers, one on each side for my 8 tracks at the time.

then Santa brought my Panasonic and turntable, and I found every Columbia house add in k-mart mags, filled em out to my house, neighbors, friends, etc, man that was fun.

I still play,some old so,e what beaten up records with so many pops, ticks, it sounds bad, but I ignore the noise and enjoy the tunes,

 

metal on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

metal is a lifestyle, not some fad!

"Is a highly discerning system enjoyable?"

It is to me. But then again,  I am highly discerning ;)

Have any of you ever listened to a system built by an audiophile who kept chasing details?  They end up in some very weird places.