Music first or sound first?

I play music that is stuff I want to hear. My system still surprises me how good it sounds, but it is music that is the purpose of the system.  

I  have a number of piano roll recordings done by Saint-Seans, Ravel, Debussy, etc, and while I marvel at their playing, it's a real treat to hear it sound so good.  My system excels on voices and acoustic piano.  It is fully capable of presenting anything I want to hear, at whatever level I want, in a very large room.  The sound is a pleasure, but it is always in service to the music.

I spent a period choosing "audiophile Quality recordings without regard to the music genre. Doing this I discovered and enjoyed music that I would never considered listening to. Great way to expand music appreciation. 

Music first. You want 'sound', just go outside. 

~Wes

+1 @layton64 

I listen to my music on my "audiophile" system, on Beyerdynamic 880 headphones, Koss Porta Pro headphones or inexpensive Bluetooth earbuds at the gym. So obviously the music comes first. If I went broke and was only left with my $200 JBL 30x studio monitors I'd still be happy listening to my music. Without enjoyable music the sound is meaningless.