It is kind of crazy that folks get caught up in the high end to the extreme of discarding CD's that don't sound good enough to bother playing on their "high-resolution" rigs. Something does seem to be askew with some audiophiles' sense of priorities.
Personally, although I own some moderately expensive gear, I can still find pleasure in listening to lesser systems and recordings as long as they bear some semblance to real music. Heck, my wife has an old system with an Onkyo receiver and a pair of Yamaha bookshelf speakers that sounds surprisingly good when listening from the next room.
I am actually fascinated when I find budget components that provide a high percentage of the high end experience. Recently I hooked up a pair of Maggie 12QR speakers to an old NAD 3020 integrated amp and was pleasantly surprised at how musical and captivating that combination sounded. Though lacking in detail and low frequency extension, it had a sense of immediacy on vocals and midrange instruments that is hard to beat at any price. Yeah, sure -- my more expensive bi-amped electrostatic hybrids have much greater resolution, dynamic capability, and greater extension at the frequency extremes. So what! I can still appreciate either system on its own terms.
It makes me wonder -- when can I stop -- when will the system's performance be "good enough"? My gut feeling is that I could have stopped 10 or 15 years ago and still have been perfectly happy.
I look for systems that get the basics right. Above all else, they need to be musical on the bulk of recordings I play. If only a small percentage of my recordings sound good on a system, I blame the system (no matter how expensive) not the recordings. People get caught up in the high-resolution mentality and forget about basic musicality. I think that's where they run into trouble. If only 2 or 3 out of 10 recordings sound good on my system, I'd change my system, not my recordings.
In other words, what is the point of owning expensive gear if it fails to provide a musically compelling experience with most software??? If you're buying equipment mainly because it was rated "class 'A' or 'B' in Stereophile," then I believe you have lost sight of what really matters...
Another thing that galls me a bit is all the folks in the A-gon forum who are so insecure in their ability to make a decision that they must get a group consensus before making any purchase. God forbid they make a "mistake" and pay too much, or buy a CD player simply because they like it -- without hearing all other contenders at their price point.
End of rant. Happy Listening to those of you who actually listen.
Personally, although I own some moderately expensive gear, I can still find pleasure in listening to lesser systems and recordings as long as they bear some semblance to real music. Heck, my wife has an old system with an Onkyo receiver and a pair of Yamaha bookshelf speakers that sounds surprisingly good when listening from the next room.
I am actually fascinated when I find budget components that provide a high percentage of the high end experience. Recently I hooked up a pair of Maggie 12QR speakers to an old NAD 3020 integrated amp and was pleasantly surprised at how musical and captivating that combination sounded. Though lacking in detail and low frequency extension, it had a sense of immediacy on vocals and midrange instruments that is hard to beat at any price. Yeah, sure -- my more expensive bi-amped electrostatic hybrids have much greater resolution, dynamic capability, and greater extension at the frequency extremes. So what! I can still appreciate either system on its own terms.
It makes me wonder -- when can I stop -- when will the system's performance be "good enough"? My gut feeling is that I could have stopped 10 or 15 years ago and still have been perfectly happy.
I look for systems that get the basics right. Above all else, they need to be musical on the bulk of recordings I play. If only a small percentage of my recordings sound good on a system, I blame the system (no matter how expensive) not the recordings. People get caught up in the high-resolution mentality and forget about basic musicality. I think that's where they run into trouble. If only 2 or 3 out of 10 recordings sound good on my system, I'd change my system, not my recordings.
In other words, what is the point of owning expensive gear if it fails to provide a musically compelling experience with most software??? If you're buying equipment mainly because it was rated "class 'A' or 'B' in Stereophile," then I believe you have lost sight of what really matters...
Another thing that galls me a bit is all the folks in the A-gon forum who are so insecure in their ability to make a decision that they must get a group consensus before making any purchase. God forbid they make a "mistake" and pay too much, or buy a CD player simply because they like it -- without hearing all other contenders at their price point.
End of rant. Happy Listening to those of you who actually listen.