$$$ vs music enjoyment

Pete, your comments corroborate what I was saying. Now, let's take the number of members of the Vienna State Opera that own high quality gear (not just SME tt's), and as a percentage of the total number of players in that orchestra, compare that percentage to that of music-listening members of the general population who also own high quality gear. The percentage of musician audiophiles will be infinitely higher. That musicinas don't know about quality stereo IS NOT TRUE.

True, but also a lot of musicians own mediocre Stereo Systems from Wal Mart ... music can be enjoyed with MP3 too

Many in this hobby would be surprised what a musician , A musician that many around the Globe would instantly recognize their name listens to at home and this includes many within his musician / singer circle of friends,For the most part the High End is a joke, that is how he feels.

Syntax hahha thats close, at least the MP3 keeps pitch intact , all that music you can carry around in your pocket anywhere you go, why not.

Frogman: I concur with your comments. It seems that as I found in another thread: "How big is your matrix - how we bias or enjoyment" we have a concurrence trend in the making.

I only know two professional musicians. Both play in symphonies and enjoy high-end playback. And one is the owner of my local go-to, high-end audio store.

The questions of who enjoys high end playback and why, are interesting ones. There obviously is no 1 answer.

Ironically, while talking with the audio store owner/musician, he stated that for enjoyment, he never listened to classical, nor Christmas music. Too him, the former represented his business and work and not pleasure, and the latter, he played far too much of, to listen to for pleasure.

So, anecdotal information about musicians and the high-end, is just that! It doesn’t mean or prove anything to me. It’s sorta’ like the discussion of why we audiophiles, are what we are? That is, why as a group do we chase better musical reproduction and others who may like music as much as we do, don’t go in our direction? I have a close friend who loves music as much, if not more, than I do. However spending 100’s, let alone 1,000’s of dollars on music reproduction is abhorrent to him. Why, I really don’t know. I’ve given up trying to answer that conundrum. I only know that for me, music, and the highly resolved reproduction of same, is a passion – one that makes me happy, so I go with it.

The cost of my system components has risen as I have aged due to a greater disposable income. Am I enjoying music and my system more now than decades ago? Yes and no.

As I went kicking and screaming (because of the cost) down the upgrade path over the years, I was brought more into the performance and closer to the performer and those are good things. But even when I was a youngster experimenting with crystal radios, and throwing drivers in card board boxes, it has always been pleasurable listening to the music. I just simply wanted it to sound better. I venture to guess that most all of us are on this forum because of that.

When I first stepped-up from more consumer oriented pre-amplifiers and amplifiers to fairly high dollar ones, instruments sounded more like they really do. The harmonics were better, the rise and decay of notes were more realistic and of course the separation between instruments was better defined and crescendos were less congested. These pluses added to my enjoyment and led me to spend more than I had previously. However, while the playback experience has improved, my love of music has remained just that.

Music is an interesting thing. It brings back memories, and affects our moods. I would be lost without it. But do I need a highly resolved system to enjoy it, no. Do I enjoy music more with a highly resolved system? Yes. Does greater cost, equal more musical enjoyment? In my experience, to a point, yes. But after that (tipping) point is reached, is musical enjoyment better, not so much and no. If as I, you’ve had the pleasure of living with a highly resolved system, you will know what I mean about the tipping point. One can make far too much ado about very meager improvements simply because we want something better &/or different.

For example, I presently have on-order, new and improved versions of my 11 year old loudspeakers. Will they be “better”, I’m hoping so. Will I enjoy the music better, per se, probably not! However, because I’m not getting any younger and MAY not be able to hear the differences, or be around a few years from now, why not get something newer/“better”. The chase, and different/newer/better is part of the fun of being human…so why not enjoy the ride…

Thank you for an excellent and highly enjoyable post, Mrmb.

However, while the playback experience has improved, my love of music has remained just that.

I agree with essentially everything you wrote, but would only like to mention that for me personally becoming an audiophile actually opened up new music that I would never have discovered (or at least enjoyed) had I not got to listen to it on a high-end analog system. I have always been in love with music, but the relationship was taken to an entirely different level through high quality playback.