some wag at stereophile recently wrote a piece about how different people prioritize intrinsic quality of the music, recording quality and quality of the equipment, utilizing a scale aggregating 100 (thus, for example, you might weigh the music as 40, the equipment a50 and the recording quality a 10). now, when i was a kid listening to great, though often crudely-recorded lps on a portable plastic record player from sears, i was probably music--95/recording quality--5/equipment quality--0. as i got older, and more fetishistic about gear, of course my priorities have shifted--now i'm probably music--70/equipment quality--20/recording quality--10. however much we enjoy accumulating expensive equipment, sacds and hi-rez music sources, i'd venture that most people would still choose good tunes over good sound.
Music vs. Components
Greetings everyone. Here's a biggie: When you sit down for a session with your hi-fi, what do you find that you are really listening to most 1) the music, or 2) your components? Where and what is that mysterious, illusive, fine line between 1) simply and wonderfully enjoying the music and.... 2) listening critically for either how "great" your system sounds (such as trying to justify upgrades, tweaks, tube rolling, wire changes, etc.) or listening for all of the flaws and weaknesses of your gear. When does the tweaking stop and the enjoyment begin? Conversely, when is it time to improve and upgrade because, in reality, you would be happier if your system sounded better?