How do you add color?

It is. Last time I remember we argued about Sonny Rollins. I don't see Orpheus10 participate in Jazz thread.

Only analog source and tube equipment can get things done right. If you are lucky.

Don't expect much from the rest, save your funds.

Color is in the details too not only in tone and timbre. You want it all. Tube preamp is very important, in addition to power amp.

As for DACs, why would any audiophile want to listen in digital what was recorded and mastered in analog and then try to get as close to analog source as possible ? Sounds strange, doesn’t it ?

If it was recorded/mastered in digital then, well, you have no choice, though good records still sound better even if the recording/mastering was done in digital.

frogman is right. How have you been ?

I would add that take two great guitars and they may sound very very different, though both will have full color. Yeah, a matter of taste and of the kind of music you play. Flamenco guitar, classical guitar, blues guitar, country guitar.

There is another point. Microphones do not 'hear' everything and so part of the real sound being recorded will be missed. Let's call it negative coloration. You might try to at least partly restore those lost in recording elements, without adding elements that were never there. This is a formidable task bordering on utopia. But we can try.

Best gear in the world along with the best room in the world are useless if the recording was not done right. Don't exaggerate the importance of listening room. The room must be alive, that's for sure, the rest is relatively minor.

"It's the source stupid".