Thanks for your thoughts everybody. A comment on the importance of timing. My brother is a musician and he would agree from the perspective of a player, that in a group of 2 or more people, timing is the ultimate separator between good, mediocre and awful. So it would figure if we are trying to recreate music in our homes, work place, cars or even headphones on the go, if our playback systems (including the listening space) cannot faithfully honor the timing in the original performance, then much of the other elements that make music enjoyable to the listener are severely diminished.
Evaluating a system - what do you listen for?
I have been in this hobby a long time and my opinion of what I want to hear in reproduced music continues to evolve. Having owned many systems - and critically listened to many, many more - I am now looking for an overall sound that as accurately as possible captures the tone and tempo of the music with enough of a bass foundation to convincingly portray an orchestra at full tilt or club beats while still nailing the timbre of an upright bass. Decent portrayal of leading and trailing edges is nice, and a high end that’s fully present and balanced without stridency is a big plus. Detail’s good, but hyper detail without musical flow can be distracting. Airy treble and pinpoint or large soundstage are also nice to have, but if what’s coming out of the speakers doesn’t make me want to tap my toe or cry a little bit when a vocalist holds a note just so, then what’s the point? That’s what I’m looking for these days - what about you?