Only source for me is digital, and I've often wondered if the music that sounds poorly recorded is actually a poor digital version, in other words, if I had an analog source (tt etc) and a pressing from the time it came out, would it sound much better? R.E.M., as mentioned above, would be one example, as I remember goosebumps hearing these tracks on my high school/college JBL/Yamaha/Kenwood low dollar set-up (might have been my younger ears?).
Other times I wonder if a really good recording even exists, one that does not have the sibilant characteristics and maybe compression I have always heard in some female voices regardless of the source - Tracey Thorn in Everything But the Girl and Shawn Colvin, for example. Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain is another example - does a good recording of this album even exist? Is there a source or database that shows a "best" recording?
Which in turn makes me worry, is it my equipment? But then I queue up Chvrches or Lake Street Dive or Big Thief or Vampire Weekend's latest and they sound great, so maybe the SQ depends on the musicians+recording engineers+studio+producer, and these guys for example have figured out how to deliver good sound via digital? Meanwhile, Local Natives latest, who should also be able to figure out the same thing the others mentioned have, doesn't sound as good. What gives?
Finally, some of the recordings I enjoy the most are live - Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session, Big Head Todd's Midnight Radio, even First Aid Kit via youtube videos, hair raising to me in terms of feeling I am right there. How can they get it so right and others miss the mark by so much? Maybe it's me, maybe I prefer recordings with live acoustics?
And then geoffkaitt mentions the foam in my Poang chair is detrimental to good sound and a whole other set of neuroses infest my mind. So which comes first, hifi or audio nervosa?
