Mid level listening

@cdc for my dedicated and treated listening space:

Speakers - Genelec 8361A x2

Streamer - Holo Audio Red (Tidal and Spotify Connect)

Controller - Genelec 9320A SAM Reference

Subwoofers - Genelec W371A x2

And for my general-purpose room where multimedia is the focus:

Speakers - L +R (MoFi Sourcepoint 888 x2) and C (KEF R2 Meta)

Subwoofer - Power Sound Audio S1512m x2

AV Processor and DSP Bass Management Tool - miniDSP Flex HTx

Power Amplifier - Apollon Audio NCx500 M Monoblock Amplifier x3

I find that being perpetually broke helps me appreciate what I listen to ;)

@jsalerno277  I agree with most of what you say.   
 As a musician I know well what real music sounds like and I’ve built my system so that it sounds as close to that as possible.  It’s always been my goal.  
in your analysis you hit on certain problems I have with listening.  The hedonistic quest for “perfect” sound raises its ugly head. I achieve near perfect SQ rarely, but after I hear it, it becomes something I want to achieve at all times.  Of course, as you say, the variable quality of source materials makes that impossible.

As I say in my post, the music must be primary.  But it’s easy to get caught up in the sonics.

I’m on vacation in Spain. Listening to an Astell & Kerns SR 35 digital audio player with Sony WF 1000XM5 earbuds.  Sounds great, and even amazing at times.  Cost is 1/20 of my home system.  There’s a lesson here. 

@evanpress 

Yes, there is a lesson there.  I used to be very happy listening on a table radio years ago.

What’s causing my current angst is that I just got back a preamp that was out for repair and the sound of my system improved, causing me to concentrate on the sound more than I should.