Is revealing always good?

I feel revealing is a must but its only 'good' if it reveals a system that sounds good. If there is a flaw in the system, a revealing CD player will make that flaw shine. Most say they dont want that and would rather mask a flaw with another flaw. A good sounding system that satisfies you emotionally should be revealing so you can get as close to the performance as you can.

when it reveals shortcomings of a bad recording, you have succeeded. You dont want to pollute your rig so it makes bad recordings sound acceptable. What you can do is try to make them sound better. My "bad' recordings all went away when I got a new killer preamp, upgraded cables and controlled my vibration and ground as well as finally did something with my room. My motown CDs do show the treble boost but that is on the recording. What you can do is get either a lesser cartridge or lesser cd player (cheaper, not too good at revealing all the flaws, for those 'bad' recordings). You still have a revealing system (better cartridge/cd player for the good recordings) and you haven't compromised your rig. For me, I could not rest until the bad recordings sounded awesome. There really are very few very poor recordings. Even what seems like compressed pop cd's from the 70s can sound better off a hard drive, resampled/clocked and then going through a really good system. You really want to be able to play everything-audiophile cd & vinyl as well as stream tidal and all of it make your jaw drop. Dont compromise...and in order to not compromise, you need to reveal.

If the recording is harsh, you need to know if the performance was harsh. If it was, no problem. If it wasn't, you need to fix it, not cover it up. If she ain't pretty, wearing dark glasses won't make her prettier.

Bombatwalla, excellent explanation. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks,