source material quality always matters, as do electronics. but folks spend fortunes here and never get this right, ergo my post. a sony receiver will never amount to much due to its inherent S/N ratio, but thats self evident i think.
in context of my premise that louder is better, its always in relation to 'fatigue', and not a function of enjoyment at a particular volume (which is more plausible as S/N ratio improves). you simply aren't as limited by the noise (via fatigue) when reaching for the volume setting. the louder you can listen without fatigue, the better your system is, given some selective assumptions as defined originally.
good listening folks
in context of my premise that louder is better, its always in relation to 'fatigue', and not a function of enjoyment at a particular volume (which is more plausible as S/N ratio improves). you simply aren't as limited by the noise (via fatigue) when reaching for the volume setting. the louder you can listen without fatigue, the better your system is, given some selective assumptions as defined originally.
good listening folks