How much reality do you really need?

Go to a club. Every table (and thus, every patron) is oriented differently towards the sound-vibrations projected from the musicians onstage (each of whom hears their combined efforts differently). There's the guy running the sound-board, the woman in the tight black dress shunting drinks and over-priced sushi from the bar. . . who's actually perceiving "reality" in this scenario? Seems to me, reality is the combination of all of these perspectives or aural focal-points. You can arbitrarily choose one location in the venue as your baseline and then set about assembling a system with the goal of trying to replicate how sound vibrations are behaving in that particular location, at a particular time. . .  If that floats your boat, go for it.

What I seek in listening is a sense of heightened aliveness and this is what determines my gear choices. "How alive do I feel in this room with this music, on this system, right now?" is, for me, the operative question.
Call me unsophisticated but I don't want to be burdened by worrying about whether what I'm hearing is an accurate replication of what ocurred on a December night in 1962 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio. 

dweller

" However, in my reality, I see blue and call it blue. You see (my) red and call it blue. There is no way to prove this is not happening."

I would ask: "does this matter and if so, why?" 

@speakermaster:

"The important thing is when you become happy with your system there is a time when that will happen and when it does the upgrades cease and you just listen for pleasure rather than worrying about how the system sounds if you are always worried about the sound you will drive yourself nuts."


I agree entirely but it seems there are many audiophiles who never reach this stage. I'd be curious to know your particular thoughts on how this state of "being happy with your system" is arrived at. 

For example, does there have to be a desire to reach this stage? 

@larry5729

"How do you know if your system sounds like the sound room where it was recorded or how it sounded live?  I think a sound system alters the sound in order to hear what sounds most pleasing to your ear.  The next step is how much are you willing to spend or how much will your spouse allow you to spend"


I agree but this is not hi-fi orthodoxy!  .