Why are you listening to that? ?


I was listening to a new simply vinyl album this afternoon and when it was almost over I was trying to decide what to listen to next. I decided on a MFSL pressing of U2 "The Unforgetable Fire." As I pulled it out of the sleeve I asked myself if I wanted to listen to it because I like it or because I know it sounds good.
Then I began to wonder if people make their listening choices based on what they like or what sounds good. I still have the original copy of the same LP which I bought because I like the band but I hadn't listened to it for years until I got the new MFSL LP.
I am not suggesting that because a recording sounds good is the only reason a person would like it. Though I find myself going back to old favorites less often as my equipment improves. Some of the things I listened to in the 70s and 80s just don't sound good anymore although I still listen to it.
So the question is: are you listening because you like it or because it sounds good? Again, I am not suggesting the two are mutually exclusive.
128x128nrchy
Depends on how I am listening and to what system I'm listening too. Hmmm--guess that sums it up. I can't listen to a poor quality recording on my reference system. But I can enjoy it on my family room / tube and monitor system usually. There are also some CD's which I can't stand to hear except in the car (the road noise masks much of the recording problems in my car). It's unfortunate in a way to have wound up in "audiophilia", but the disease has been classified by the CDC and web sites such as this have proven it's contageous. I do have many recordings (mostly jazz recordings from the 50's) that I love the performance, but can hardly tollerate the recording.
If I'm truly just sitting down to listen, nothing else going on, recording quality goes way up in importance. However, I would say that it limits my choices to abou 60% of my 1000+ CD collection, and not down to a couple dozen (or fewer) "audiophile" CDs. When I'm not doing "serious" listening, recording quality doesn't impact my choice much at all, though there is the occassional truly crappy recording that I just won't listen to anymore. -Kirk
Sometimes I just want to hear the music. Sometimes I mostly want to hear what my rig can do. Sometines, when I'm lucky, I get both.

Brad
Atlanta, GA
When I'm working on choosing or evaluating components, I concentrate on top-notch recordings. But that's the only time I do. The rest of the time, I'm listening to music, not electronics. And, because I've chosen components carefully, I know without even thinking about it that whatever I'm listening to at the moment sounds as good as I can make it sound (at least until the next upgrade).
Post removed