What your describing, is in my experience, more often than not, due to the recording rather than the gear. That is not to say that when playing the same recording in the same room with different gear, one doesn't hear the same differences. I aim to have a system that acurately portrays the recordings intent. Of course that requires a huge assumption as far as the recording engineers intent. Unless I'm a privy to better information, I generally assume that, for example; small intimate recordings like solo instrumental recordings aim to have the musician in my room, large symphonic and big band jazz recordings should put me in the recording venue and smaller jazz combos and classical recital recordings some where in between. Unfortunately, for better or worse, no matter how much time or money we spend on our gear, we are still at the mercy of the recording engineers, and maybe even worse, at often times at the mercy of our own assumptions as to the accuracy of our gear based upon the assumptions of the intent of the recordings.
Do I really want the musicians in my room?
I've spent the last month - as time allows, at least - auditioning some of the popular gold/gold hybrid cables on the market. I noticed something very striking between a couple of the manufacturers: with one set in my system, my system "puts the musicians in my room". With another, the musicians are not in my room, but in the room the recording was made in; that is, I can hear the reverberataions in the studio or the venue. When I listen to the former, I think about how much information is on the source that I'm not hearing; with the latter, I wonder why I've spent ridiculous sums of money to get such resolution. Interestingly, though, my experience has been the "less resolving" "musicians are here" cables tend to have a more lush, seductive sound, while the "higher resolving" cables have a faster, more detailed sound. Which I prefer depends on my mood and the type of music I'm listening to.
Unfortunatly, it seems to me that these conditions are mutually exclusive. You can't have a system with a high degree of resolution and still have that "musicians are in your room" feeling, unless the recording itself allows for that. I don't seem to have many recordings that allow for both, though. Even then, the lushness is missing in the "higher resolving" cables.
Has anyone else struggled with this? If you found a way around this frustration, how did you do it?
Unfortunatly, it seems to me that these conditions are mutually exclusive. You can't have a system with a high degree of resolution and still have that "musicians are in your room" feeling, unless the recording itself allows for that. I don't seem to have many recordings that allow for both, though. Even then, the lushness is missing in the "higher resolving" cables.
Has anyone else struggled with this? If you found a way around this frustration, how did you do it?