How Revealing Should a System Be?

Interesting thought. I do agree that the music is the point of all this audio equipment.
Perhaps one solution would be to have either more than one source or more than one system.
Or even searching out better source material, (which I will admit that I do, to some extent anyway).

Next question for you then:

If, as the system gets better, and therefore, more revealing, some of the more poorly recorded recordings do indeed sound worse. However, what if on the other hand, some of the better recorded recordings sound utterly fantastic because the system is now so revealing?

What then?

My system is very revealing on both CD and vinyl. I can now hear some flaws in some of my favorite recordings, that I never heard before my current level of upgrading. I accept that as much as I accept that some of my vinyl has small pop and ticks. I merely ignore it, and sit back and enjoy the music.

I think that what you are mentioning is a problem for some people. However, (I believe), it is only those unfortunate few who can no longer turn off the "critical" listening, and for whom enjoying the music is becoming harder and harder. I also believe that it is these people who are on the never ending cycle of audio upgrading merely for the pursuit of audio nirvana. (I hope I never get to that point!)

My two cents worth anyway.

It is one of the faults of having a very revealing system.

It happened to me last year using a passive conttroller,but it was not something that really distracts me from enjoying bad recordings.

Another thing I have experienced is when I get dirty AC and playback is awful. Makes things sound strident.

Try your CDP using CD Direct and that is as bad as it can get using different recordings. Try it for a week.

I am looking for an active Pre-Amp with a good Phonostage again BTW.

I believe,,, a slightly different theory.

Does poorly recorded material sound GOOD on a non revealing system? I think no, i think with more revealing setups the joys of well recorded music can outweigh some of the actual content.
I found this to be very true when switching to Hi Definition television. I found myself watching hi definition more and being less picky of its content, and actually relized the content was appealing after all!

Poorly recorded music is just,, bad, no matter the content.
I think then the real persuit becomes finding the music you like, recorded properly. IMHO

I agree - I think as you explore higher-end systems, you start to realize the limitations of the vast number of recordings. The notion that they used to sound great to you isn't that they sound good on a poorer system, it's just that you didn't used to think about it so much. If you had, you'd have been disappointed on any system.

You have to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle - my recommendation is to visit allmusic.com and surf the site for great music, and the next time you consider a multi-thousand $$ upgrade, but a ton of music instead. Maybe you can get the genie back in the bottle, maybe not.

I think this is why musicians don't get so hung up on high-end systems - the recordings are relatively poor, don't sound that much like the real thing, and they're able to focus on what the musicians are doing to make the sound they're hearing, regardless of the recording quality. In other words, they're listening directly past the recording and playback quality, and hearing the music.