How competitive are you with your system?

I let the sound of my systems speak for themselves. I never hesitate to let others hear their sound qualities, which can be discerned even through audio recordings of them embedded in YouTube videos. In my head, I know where their sound quality ranks & how it compares to others systems I have heard and it is always, in the words of the great Bad Brains, “I Against I”. 

My system challenges me to a fight every time i turn it on.

Are you gladiator? Who are you going to fight with? Why do you wish to pick up the fight?

It’s interesting that the majority of the many people answering the question claim they are not competitive.  Why do they bother responding to this thread if it didn’t occur to them at some point how others’ systems sounded.

Just don’t force the issue. Most of the AGs here aren’t interested in competing with each other’s systems. Rather, they respond to posts like this to express their views on what they believe is the right or healthy attitude. In my opinion, your goal should be to assess how closely your system can reproduce the sound of a live performance on stage. The evaluation criteria can include timbre accuracy, tonal balance, soundstage, imaging, detail retrieval, and so on.

That said, my observation suggests that something may be lacking in your system. For example, in a previous thread, you highly praised a particular CD—a compilation of excerpts from various classical masterworks. As I noted at the time, in some tracks the cello timbre seemed off, and the mixing lacked proper center-stage image / focus. The music appeared to come only from the extreme left and right channels. Furthermore, since the CD is just a collection of excerpts, it feels disjointed—something many classical listeners wouldn’t even find appealing.

I didn’t mention all this earlier out of politeness. But if your system is truly as outstanding as you’ve claimed, why didn’t it reveal those flaws to you? Is your setup capable of exposing such deficiencies? If not, I wonder—how competitive is it, really?

@rvpiano 

Why do they bother responding to this thread if it didn’t occur to them at some point how others’ systems sounded.

I very much doubt there’s anyone here who has never considered how others’ systems sound. I thought the whole focus of your thread was whether it matters and to what degree. For some of us, it simply doesn’t matter much.  And now you’re saying that somehow disqualifies us from participating? Weird. I’ll know to steer clear next time. 

@rvpiano 

Why do they bother responding to this thread if it didn’t occur to them at some point how others’ systems sounded.

Curiosity is different from competitiveness. In addition, I believe one can enjoy improving their system based on what gear and new innovations are out there, as well as their own budget, without viewing it as a competition with others.

@lanx0003 said,

In my opinion, your goal should be to assess how closely your system can reproduce the sound of a live performance on stage.

Certainly to each their own but, my goal is for my system to sufficiently allow me to enjoy listening to music in my home.