Onhwy61, I wish to God that recording engineers spent more time trying to get better sound. So much of what they produce sounds like crap that no amount of money spent at home can fix. The improvements that could be made in the recording studio dwarf what we can do at home, at least within the budget constraints most of us have.
Think twice before concluding some thing sounds better
Often anything good that is merely different seems better. So many aspects of sound, things to listen for. Takes time to really know what parts are better and what might actually be worse in a complementary sense