Does it have to sound good for you to like it?

I share frogman's POV, especially as set forth in his 2d paragraph.

FWIW I've found good recordings are nothing much more than validation of the effectiveness of the audio set up I have worked on for many years, i.e. that it fairly represents the contents of my recordings. I find that it does. Could be better or worse, who knows, but it meets my needs. Done! Onto the music. :-)

Yes, you have to make the best of what you have, and recognize that not all recordings are created equal.

"Well, I guess it was good to get all those opinions off your chest.  If only they had the least bit connection to what I actually said."

I took your comment for what it appeared to be saying.  It's certainly good to have some clarification. ;-)

I am a "music first audiophile". I would be hard pressed to not listen to a recording where I thought the music was great, but the recording, not so much.

Lucky for me, the 3 genres (classical, prog, jazz) and their various subgenres I listen to, tend to be recorded better than average.

So, I have very few bad recordings. But, for me, the music is more important, so I will listen to bad recordings, for the musical content.

I do tend to give a bit more priority to good sounding recordings, however. But not for the reasons most stereotypes of audiophiles would describe*, but because I find it easier to become more emotionally and/or intellectually involved with the music.

Let me add, that I do tend to disagree a bit with @rvpiano concerning the sound quality of classical recordings. I tend to find the majority of them to be quite good. I find it easier to find good sounding classical recordings, that band ones. Especially with regards to soundstage and imaging, the natural ambience of the acoustic space where the musicians were playing, and other spatial cues.

But then, the vast majority of the classical music I listen to, is from the 1950's up though the current era. So, I have the advantage of a very high percentage of it being recorded on good gear, with modern miking techniques.  

*the quote attributed to Alan Parsons is what I am referring to: “Audiophiles don’t use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.”

@simonmoon Great quote. That is exactly what I do, sometimes.

To answer RVP’s question. No, assuming the car is bad. Otherwise nothing sounds bad to me in my system and even SXM radio is pretty good these days.

But I would not sit down to a dedicated listening session and listen to a mediocre recording.

Music is on a lot in our house, and always in the cars, so don’t think I’m missing out on anything, quite the opposite really. Very fortunate.