Do you trust your system?

Now that my system has opened up...I feel like I can trust it.

@steakster - A-ha! Clive indeed! First I was gonna say 'none of them' or something like that, but I changed it to 'with a very few exceptions' - also people like the late Ahmet Ertugan. A friend of mine used to be president of Capital Records for a few years (I first met him when he was an order taker for a record company), and he was also somebody who really cared about music; he'd even send out CD's of music that wasn't even on his label to people because he thought they should hear them. 

Of course I trust my system, but it’s only as good as the mastering or recording I feed it.

Speaking of recordings, I spent years chasing the dragon for decent sounding Richie Valens tracks. I tried several 1980’s CD releases and always came away feeling that there could have and should have been much more done in the mastering chain instead of leaving us this kind of bright lifeless sonic presentation. When I discovered the 2003 Audio Fidelity SACD Hybrid my prayers had been answered. Apparently Mr. Hoffman knew what it needed in the redbook layer. Finally decent sound! For kicks, knowing that there are no tools for doing anything in the DSD layer, I threw the SACD layer on. Well imagine how surprised I was when I realized all of those 1980’s CD’s were flat transfers and the real way the Valens recordings sound because they’re the same sound as the SACD layer on this AP hybrid. Recordings definitely matter.

I will always enjoy reading about all the different  versions of the same album mastered by different companies and individuals. I'll pick up the best version in the majority of the people's opinion and compare with what I already have and also with Qobuz and Tidal. Pretty cool when you start to hear the difference  and confirm with what others are saying. If you can  spot the differences  and agree with the majority of folks I believe you and your system are in the ballpark. 

I think that worrying about the performance of your system after you have dedicated the necessary effort to dial it in (which may take time) is a symptom of audio nervosa. That in turn leads to playing known good sounding recordings, just to be sure everything is OK, and robs you of the enjoyment of what the system might be capable of.

I’m confident that despite my efforts, somebody like a Jim Smith could do even more to make my system sing. I’m not talking about component mismatches or bad acoustics, which have to be dealt with (though I think some folks over treat their rooms, or get all spendy on wire and other tweaks that offer marginal improvements).

As to what is "true"-- who knows? One engineer who worked for Phil Ramone said in effect, you would not believe how much manipulation is required in the studio and mix to get something to sound natural.

I only really began to enjoy my system when I put the audiophile approved records to the side and just searched out new to me music. My baseline is the standard issue record, often from the '70s, not exactly a high point for vinyl in the States, rather than some special audiophile 1/2 speed mastered reissue pressed on an exclusive vinyl compound.

You can get stuck in equipment evaluation mode for years. Break the chains! Get it sorted to the best of your ability and then kick back and enjoy.

I’ve got quite a handful to maintain from tubes all the way through to linear arm with air compressor, and exotic cartridges. In some ways, I’m more aware than ever of the precarious nature of this fancy stuff, but I’ve developed an attitude that there is no reason why hi-end should be more fussy. And if something is wrong, I track it down and get it fixed. Nervous about it-- well, I am compulsive enough to want to sort problems immediately, and not let them languish. But in the scheme of things, it’s just equipment -- hopefully stuff that endures and doesn’t depend on out of date chips or other things that make a unit obsolete and unusable.

Most of my time and effort in the last 10 years has been on the records, rather than the gear, though I do maintain it properly. And it does bring me joy.