What do you care about in this hobby?

I am only in this because I have always loved listening to music.  It’s one of my favorite things to do.  I know its working when I can listen to most anything and stay glued in place focused happily on the music for hours until I force myself to leave.  Its a state of bliss... good karma!  As such it is also a very healthy pastime.  

The question for me is always how do I decide when making my purchasing decisions towards that end.  Thats where things can start to get complicated.  The easy way out is just listen to the options and decide.  But how much must it really cost?  That’s always the thing!  I try to not stress about it too much and ruin the karma.  I am willing to pay any price for that end result, but the engineer in me says be smart about how you go about making your decisions.

What do you care about in this hobby?
 

1, Sound quality.

9, Relaxation.*

*House quiet, lights low, eyes closed and Bill Evans playing @75dbs.

Sound quality of course. Because I enjoy the technical side of this hobby as well, I almost want to split that category into sound quality and musicality. I am amazed at the technology that can deliver this level of performance in my home. Aesthetics matter to some degree, particularly with speakers. I also enjoy the endless possibilities, some day I may settle down with a system.

1. Sound quality.

9. Experimenting. 

10. Everything matters

First and foremost, the ability of the system to express the emotion of the composition and performance.  I have auditioned 7 figure systems that have accurate sound quality, but fail to express emotion and do not touch my soul, and other much less expensive systems that reproduce the composition and performance in a manner to bring a tear to my eye and fulfillment to my soul.  I recognize this is a very subjective quality but critical  IMHO.
 

The others are listed in order of importance:

• Sound quality, especially timbre. 
• High benefit/cost ratio
• Build quality and reliability 
• Excellent customer service/Dealer representation 

Design and parts quality are important but not a per se’ concern, for they are evident in the execution of the design intent during the design phase, design transfer, and manufacturing process,  and expressed  in the SQ, B/C ratio, and BQ and reliability listed above.  Measurements are of no concern other than electrical specifications for determining component compatibility.