Hifi V.s. The music makers

"Russ, this and that is true, but no great recording artist can make poor performance great while great musician can turn poor recording sound great. Czarivey"

I agree 100%.

I would also add, that it is hard to know what the Engineer, producer, artist, etc. was hearing because you weren't in the playback booth hearing the play back on the studio play back equipment. So, it will sound slightly different in your system. most likely, your equipment is much better than what was in the recording/play back booth. The mixing boards may have used ICs or solid state or tube (rare). The potentiometers may be really cheap, etc. You never really know what was used in the recording booth. So you really try to do the best you can to tailor your system to play back music in a manner which pleases you and do your best to try to reproduce the music in as realistic a manner as you can.

enjoy

Russ, this and that is true, but no great recording artist can make poor performance great while great musician can turn poor recording sound great.

There are musicians and there are the recording arts. The musicians produce the raw material for the recording artists/engineers to use in their product. Sometimes the musician is highly involved and sometimes not.
Not to go too far off course but audiophiles play the product produced by the art of recording, and in my opinion that's what we should be doing not trying to put the musician/musicians in the room. They are two different things and both have their own merits.

They are also looking for absolute
"truth" to what they are hearing . no colorations. I ask why we
are so determined to alter their work ?

No, they don't. They're trying to predict how it will sound at home. Stereo
image is constructed from multi-microphone recording, compression is
applied etc. We're not trying to alter their work. Most of us don't even
have tone controls. We're trying to obtain clear, natural sounding 3D
image from what they constructed. Truth, as you call it, would require
zero compression, making it very difficult for the most of us to play since
we cannot provide required dynamic range either because of equipment or
ambient noise (or neighbors).

Some of recordings that suppose to be the "truth" are simply
atrocious while some are breathtaking and everything else in in between -
just an average. I agree with Czarivey, that music takes huge precedence
over recording quality but I tend to search for recordings that have both.

The OP's stated premise is kind of like the one about all that wiring that exists before it gets to your outlet so why bother about the last few feet from said outlet to your system.

To that I say that once the recording is made, worrying about which cable to use in my system makes about as much sense as worrying about which speaker I should use or which source to use. It's my choice which depends on my taste.

I don't feel that I'm, in the least way, changing anything about the original recording.

This is not meant as a negative response to the OP's question but an answer of sorts that in the end begs the matter that to me, the final result (the recording), is just another link in the chain that ends up with a system of my choice to hear it in a way I like, being an audiophile and all that. :-)

All the best,
Nonoise

I'd prefer great musician over great recording.
Listening to virtuosos and maestros via cheap system in MP3 format can bring joy as well regardless of recording or playback quality.

Honestly, I have few issues with most recordings. I'm not saying they are all technically perfect, or necessarily even of high quality, but they are what they are and that is what I want to hear, no matter what. They are technically produced works or art. How they are produced and sound is part of that. In any case, really good material is generally covered by many in many ways over the years, so that produces a lot of options to choose from.

I used to be of the mindset that I liked good sound and hated most recordings. With modern gear, set up well, I find most recordings to have something of interest to offer. That's a good thing when it comes to retaining my interest. I can only listen to even my favorites so many times.

If they are engineers or musicians who play Rock, Hip Hop, or other amplified genres, they will have some hearing damage or limitations. In these cases, they are coloring the sound at home with equalizers and such. Also, many in this category will listen using pro-gear at home.

I'll bet that professional classical or traditional jazz musicians do make educated decisions on their choice of audio gear. But I'll wager they are not fanatical or obsessive about getting the absolute sound.

With audiophiles, we love the music and the technology and it's a serious hobby or way of life. Besides, the listener does not have the same setup and equipment as the studio of the original recording, so we make adjustments. And the bottom line is everybody hears differently.

Czar,

Its not hard to argue that the playback adds an additional circuit, so if quality is same as recorded, then end result degrades X2 that incurred during recording.

The playback has to have some effect on the sound. So may as well be the one that tickles the owners fancy for whatever reason.

They are also looking for absolute "truth" to what they are hearing . no colorations. I ask why we are so determined to alter their work ?

Looking for absolute truth, audiophiles obsessed with toobz and other toyz such as panel speakers, horns that color sound a lot. Audiophile hook-up wires are also deliberately made with excessive reactance parameters so they are able to color the sound and 'make differences' for the arm-leg-worth spent. They don't realize that they're determined to alter musician's and sound engineer work. To keep listening experience same vs. original source, it's sufficient enough using similar class of equipment for the playback including similar studio grade wires.
One who wants to appreciate sound that 'came out' from studio, should probably go into the studio monitors such as KRK or Event and descent pro-grade player.

It's a control thing.

If one does make or produce music themselves, but still yearns to control what they hear, I guess its the only thing left to do.

Whereas maybe if one is able to make their own music, there is less urge to control what the work of others sounds like.

Maybe we're all frustrated artistic wannabees to some extent.

There is no "absolute truth"...there is no spoon. One persons "absolute truth" is another persons coloration. I do know many who are convinced that their way is the only way, sort of like having a God complex I suppose.

I agree with Mechans, live and let live. Why worry about what someone else feels is absolute truth? Enjoy music the way you want to hear it, and relax and enjoy life. No need to label people.

Because some of us like to hear music our way, with colorations, euphonia etc. It is a personal preference thing that's all. Think of a really dedicated chef turning out what he/she considers the best, correct and purist way to eat something. The diner still retains some discretion in many cases asking for this or that mod.
So I say live and let live, I try very hard not to dictate to others what I perceive as the right way to do something.
If you are convinced with a bunch of evidence that say this is what the "Music Makers" want, and you really enjoy it by all means indulge.