Is a highly discerning system enjoyable?


I argue that in terms of musical enjoyment, connection, feeling the musicians and composers maybe a highly discerning system is going too far? Maybe I want the warts airbrushed out.  Maybe I like a system that lets me listen to a broader range of recordings  without whincing?

Then there’s systems which are discerning of performances vs. discerning of upstream gear. I personally feel they are not the same thing at all.

Lastly, if your room is an acoustic mess, how can you tell?

If you feel strongly either way I'd appreciate examples of the gear that made you go one way or another.

erik_squires

@erik_squires 

I may need to listen to another copy/version. This is sounding very dynamic to me?

Perhaps it’s just because I just listened to War previously. Although, I was playing Depeche Mode Delta Machine in between, which has an insane amount of bottom end…

@perkri  I only heard these on CD, if you have vinyl you may be having a totally different experience than I did.

@erik_squires 

Yeah, on vinyl. Been keenly listening to the drums on Talking Heads, and I’m feeling like they, and the percussion are well balanced in the mix? 
 

Im now wanting to pull out other live recordings so I can listen to the drums :)

 

Oscar Peterson “The way I really play”, Japanese pressing up next. 
 

Regardless of mix etc, forgot how much I liked the Talking Heads. So thank you for that :)

@erik_squires

Interesting observations

Often when I bring this up I think of U2 War.  Great album, mixed for boom boxes. 

What does this mean?

Can't we argue though that the high resolution system in some cases IS what makes a recording sound a lot worse?

Maybe true. So why would you want to spend a lot of money to enjoy something LESS?

OCD Mikey addresses this question further in the video. Take a few minutes and decide what you think.