What do you care about in this hobby?

Hobby?

@mopsauce Many consider it  hobby!

listening to music as hobby - Search

Part of my point is of course subjective sound quality is the thing that matters most to anyone in this club.  The question then is what else of a more objective nature is important towards achieving that goal, if anything?   I’m sure many could care less about specs, measurements, build quality including quality of parts, etc.  Personally I am a technical person, an engineer by trade for almost 40 years now.   I hear very satisfying sound at all price points.  How do you decide?   To me quality of design and build is what helps assure good sound.   But what does that mean?  Quality design is a given.   How much in material parts are needed and what will it cost me?  If it sounds good to me but measures very poorly in comparison to other products that is a big red flag. 

I like the way my stereo sounds.  I love the bloom of the bass, the separation and being able to feel  and hear the room of the recording.  I started this hobby loving the music, but as I’ve gotten deeper into it, I also enjoy the sound and synergy of the system.  Sometimes, I’m not listening as much to the music as the sound.  I definitely want my system to be reliable (60 year old McIntosh stuff…ha..all tubes…double Ha…def needs its share of attention).  I miss it so much when it’s in the shop.  So really it’s a combination of sound, synergy and music.  I know some folks will say, “it’s all about the music” - it used to be to me, but now there’s more things to appreciate.  

All of those things are important to me.   But some, like sound quality, value, parts quality, and measurements are higher on the list.  But yes they are all factors.  But I am not going to buys something that is off the charts in every category but fails in sound quality.