The music’s the thing but....


Yes, the music is the thing.  But before we became engrossed in this crazy hobby, it was the ONLY thing.  Now, I can’t listen to music on my system without the SOUND entering into the equation.  Unless it’s a patently historic recording, or mono, my enjoyment of the music is tempered by what the sound is like.  That was never the case before.  I can’t seem to enjoy the music if the sound isn’t right.  What a pity that is.
The music should come first, but unfortunately, it doesn’t.
 If I’m listening on a car radio or something, the problem doesn’t exist.
 Zoom, right to the music!
Such is the nature of our obsession.
128x128rvpiano
I have much the same problem less the playing .FWIW I find the best done material is where its done for love first and foremost , the Early Music world .
"Audiophiles often have"...…"Gardener's Syndrome...."
Better Gardener's than Gardner's
SO agree @schubert. There are a lot of parallels between the "original instrument"/"historically informed" movement in the field of Baroque music performance and Bluegrass music. Both are very well written---great chord structures, melodies, harmonies, counterpoint, etc., are played on purely acoustic old instruments (one well-known Bluegrass bassist I know has an 18th Century 3/4 scale upright. It’s worth a small fortune, and is his only possession of any significant consequence. Bluegrass guitarists favor pre-WWII Martins, which command a LOT of money in the collectors market), both are known to be low-paying gigs (compared with that of modern Symphony Orchestra and Rock Band players), and both are performed by those I consider my favorite musicians. Another welcomed similarity is that both musics are often recorded in better-than-usual sound quality.
Well I could see some aspects and good musicians but to say anyone ever wrote something like say ,"Monterverdi’s Vespers " in Bluegrass just ain’t so .