I agree - I think as you explore higher-end systems, you start to realize the limitations of the vast number of recordings. The notion that they used to sound great to you isn't that they sound good on a poorer system, it's just that you didn't used to think about it so much. If you had, you'd have been disappointed on any system.
You have to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle - my recommendation is to visit allmusic.com and surf the site for great music, and the next time you consider a multi-thousand $$ upgrade, but a ton of music instead. Maybe you can get the genie back in the bottle, maybe not.
I think this is why musicians don't get so hung up on high-end systems - the recordings are relatively poor, don't sound that much like the real thing, and they're able to focus on what the musicians are doing to make the sound they're hearing, regardless of the recording quality. In other words, they're listening directly past the recording and playback quality, and hearing the music.
You have to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle - my recommendation is to visit allmusic.com and surf the site for great music, and the next time you consider a multi-thousand $$ upgrade, but a ton of music instead. Maybe you can get the genie back in the bottle, maybe not.
I think this is why musicians don't get so hung up on high-end systems - the recordings are relatively poor, don't sound that much like the real thing, and they're able to focus on what the musicians are doing to make the sound they're hearing, regardless of the recording quality. In other words, they're listening directly past the recording and playback quality, and hearing the music.