As system improves, do bad recordings sound worse?

Interesting thread, Bryon, and I think that you are probably correct in general. As Mrtennis says, this is ultimately all subjective. I also agree with Audioquest4life's early response where he said that a really bad recording is never going to sound good. I believe that many audiophiles are too quick to blame their systems when in actual fact what they are hearing is a problem with the original recording. No two engineers record the same way, especially in today's digital age where they can pretty much manipulate the recording however they wish, and they have the same choices in values you mention (between musicality, accuracy, transparency, etc.) and many other choices besides. The recording process itself is extremely subjective. I also think that Cbw is correct that some recordings interact with some systems better than others and that this variable changes whenever a change to the system is made. I think that any change made to a system is going to make some things sound worse and some things sound better, regardless of the effect on the system overall - there are far too many variables for it to be otherwise.

I have experienced both. I have invested and upgraded my system only to find out that a lot of my rock/pop recordings sound better on a boom box or my car stereo than on my home system. Very frustrating. Revamped my system so more and now my bad recordings sound pretty darn good. I think one needs to choose gear according to goals and type of music and recordings one has. To me, having a system that excells at only good recordings and nothing esle is a waste, unless all you have is nothing but good recordings. I like a lot of music, that for whatever reason is not the best recording quality. It took me awhile and some trial and error, and plenty of money but I have finally assembled a system where all of my music sound really darn good.

what are you aiming for? if its transparency and detail, sorry to say, all the flaws in a recording will be painfully realized. if your aim is making every recording acceptable, save yourself a lot of money and time and opt for a system that is warm, lacks detail and resolution hiding the ugly problems that are inherent in a medium that lacks standardization.

beyond transparency and detail revealing flaws, the closer to “realism” you get the more your brain recognizes the discrepancies similar to a cartoon where you accept the stylization vs cgi where the closer you get to mimicking reality the more the tiny flaws spoil the illusion.

a room dialed in for a flat response with gear intended to mine the intimate detail of recordings is a sublime experience w a sublime recording but for poor recordings you hear the tape splice, the minute differences inherent in over dubs, poor mic technique, poor mastering, aspects the recording engineer was trying to emphasize, the inherent gloss and loss of texture of synthesized instruments, recording studio vs venue reverb and ambiance, the list goes on and on.

i live with this enjoying those few sublime recordings and for the rest enjoying getting to recognize what could have been improved to elevate it.