Some of your threads suggest a sense of angst.Try going a week without thinking about cables or a lack of transparency in the upper range.Select a stack of wax that inspired you in days gone by.Play it concentrating only on the music.If necessary handcuff yourself to the chair so you can't get up to tweak.If the sound is so imperfect you can't stand it,kick it to the curb and get something else.Remember always that many people in the world are happy with a Bose Wave.Just listen to the music.
auditioning sessions vs. listening sessions
By "auditioning" sessions I mean those times when your attention is directed, first and foremost, to how the system and/or CD/LP/etc. *sounds*, as a result of the combination of hardware and software being used; during such sessions you might get up from the listening chair to tweak the toe-in of the speakers by 1/2 an inch, or you might be swapping some new interconnects in and out of the system.
By "listening" sessions I mean those times when your attention is directed, first and foremost, to the music, in and of itself (particularly if the composition is new to you), and/or the performance of the music.
So my questions are: can one make this kind of a distinction? Is it desirable to keep these two kinds of sessions separate? If so, how successful are you in doing so? Do you have any specific strategies for achieving this? For you, does the one tend to seep involuntarily into the other? Would this seepage be a good or a bad thing?
By "listening" sessions I mean those times when your attention is directed, first and foremost, to the music, in and of itself (particularly if the composition is new to you), and/or the performance of the music.
So my questions are: can one make this kind of a distinction? Is it desirable to keep these two kinds of sessions separate? If so, how successful are you in doing so? Do you have any specific strategies for achieving this? For you, does the one tend to seep involuntarily into the other? Would this seepage be a good or a bad thing?