The Sound or Music

I went on a 6 day vacation to Mexico shortly after Christmas with an ipod chock full of 6800 songs. My only previous experiences with this veritable, yet limited music library, was during work-outs or grass-cutting. My intention was to provide distraction from the lengthy plane ride. What I discovered was how much I enjoyed the music. I listened each and every night, on the beach, and of course, on the flight back. It was the music. I went as far as to tell my family I had inadvertently vanquished my obssessvie tendencies towards vinyl playback.

I had a similar conversation with Arnie Nudell and Paul McGowan at the 1996 Vail Jazz Party. With strong paraphrase on their evaluatuion, they contended music may best be appreciated only through a high resolution system. With the support of a woman comfortable in expressing her opinion I was able to return the focus to the music and the joy there derived.

And, although the audio quality of an ipod may exceed that of a boom box it's offerings are little compared to my home system. I hold the dis-belief that I might ever pick sound over substance.

Well said, Ras422. Those are my thoughts as well. I look at it like this, I was way into music when all I had was my parents old stereo fom the 50's. The sound quality wasn't even close to the system I have now, but that doesn't mean I didn't love the music any less. Any upgrades that I made over the years were just icing on the cake.

For me I'm a music lover and an audio freak. Loving music is what turned me into an audio freak. For that deserted island, I would choose to have the perfect stereo with 300 favorite recordings, thank you. A perfect stereo is much too hard to come by.

Just thought about it again. It's the "perfect stereo?" After spending thousands of dollars building the opposite of the "perfect stereo," I would never pass on the "perfect stereo." That's a no-brainer for me. 300 favorite recordings will have to do.

I love music, that's why I have a stereo at all.

But, I realize that music exists so that I can test my stereo, and continually try to make it better.

I wonder what a new DAC would sound like, and how 2 smaller subs would compare to one big one, oh yeah, I've always wanted to try a linear tracking arm, that TransFi Terminator 3 looks good, you know I love my VPI Classic, but I grew up near where they make Sota tables, so maybe I should try one of those...........

Oh yeah, I like music too.

Once upon a time, like Elizabeth,s relative, I enjoyed good music from whatever source it emanated. This was before I discovered "The high end".
"How you gonna keep'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree"?
Now, I am absolutely positively astounded at the sound of those records I bought over 30 years ago. As much as I like variety, I hate bad sound. I would have to take the 300 and go crazy shortly there after.