Testing your system

My version: "Listen with your heart, not your ears".

Wise advice... Thanks OP...

Music is the wave and the sound and the gear are only the navigating surfer body/plank... Learn how to Control your body on and with the plank and dont mistake the plank for the journey...

 The ocean is your room...

Well getting "musical messages" can be successfully achieved using no system at all whether you listen with your heart or more trivial ears. In fact I really do prefer getting musical messages without any audio system for example from guitar or from piano...

Yes, choosing musically satisfying components as opposed to analyzing the level of detail and slam as your primary criteria is a great way to get a musically fulfilling and satisfying system. The trick is developing the skills and experience to do it.

The gist is know what real acoustic instruments and music sounds like and try to listen to the music and not the components when auditioning. Once again, easier said than done.

I agree.  It’s easy to fall in love short term with a lot of stuff out there, because honestly there is a lot of good stuff out there 

The trick is ending up with gear that you are afraid to change or part with because it sounds so good. 
 

@oddiofyl 

Good thoughts. 
 

But for me. “The trick is to end up with gear that is so completing and alluring, you simple cannot imagine something could sound better. Happily that is where I am… although I know it is possible.

Over the decades, I have been afraid to change or part with it… because of the chaos that might, and did ensue. To me, I am in the better of the two.

When I sit listening with my eyes closed and find myself smiling and/or tapping my toe, that’s the best test of my system.

Yes, the music is paramount. But it has to sound good. My breakthrough was when I realized that everything sounded great on the system. The days of only seeking out the best recordings on the quietest vinyl were over. Particularly striking are 50s and 60s recordings. It took a while to get here. It’s a small yet significant achievement.

@noromance 

Yes, I’ve had the same experience as you, even down to the love of 50s and 60s recordings.

[Intro]
Oh
Can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now?
Yeeeh (oh)
Am I coming through?
Am I coming through?
Is this sweet and pure and true?
[Chorus]
Oh, are you hearing me
Like I'm hearing you?
Oh, are you hearing me
Like I'm hearing you?

....excerpts from The Test; The Chemical Brothers...

Although based upon 'another sort of experience', presently coming back into...

....well, 'application' v. 'popularity' would be more 'correct', but....given current circumstances perhaps not totally surprising.....😒

...music as an hatch, marked Escape.....

At some point in the search for 'audio Nirvanna', a well tuned system stops being a reproduction of a recording and becomes a musical performance in and of itself.

It's a balancing act. Musicality for the heart first but it has to please my ears too. Hence, for music lacking in recording quality, I use the loki max for digital sources and the Puffin for my secondary TT. My primary TT is the only source I can't equalize, because I don't need to. I only play top recordings there, about a third of my LPs. 

Listen twice.  Measure once.

@waytoomuchstuff 

Listen twice.  Measure once.

Priceless! 😂

I've just recently got my system where I want it to be. It sounds great, but more importantly, it brings me joy.