Dear @asctim , thank you for your point:
I suspect that a lot of music lovers who aren’t audiophiles are exceptionally good at re-constructing what’s missing or distorted in the playback. They don’t even know they’re doing it, so they don’t get what all the audiophile fuss is about.
This is something about myself as I live with an audiophile who is not enjoying music if the production, I mean recording, could be better, in his view, done! Even the perfect execution of the piece of music, in his view, is not worth listening to if there’s something wrong with the recording. I agree and disagree at the same time.
I agree that the recording is horrible and unpleasant to listen to.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with my audiophilistic half when there are small bits and imperfections in sound because I know how much work must be done before even the musical piece is executed in front of anyone. Not to mention how much work is needed to put it on the record.
My piano teacher and even the choir conductor always said to look for the perfect and true music in the live performance rather than in the recorded music. Yes, on the record, the music is there. Still, the emotions and the message drawn within the music performance are possible to transmit and receive only in the concert hall or in live events.
Scrolling different audiophiles’ channels you can discover the single pieces of gear have their own personalities, sounds, ecc. Like the amplifiers which tend to have even some sound signature.
Check it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uDeoY0c8WE
Sometimes, it seems too much to be bothered, making me forget about the pleasures of listening to music at work or during the house activities. I do really, sometimes, prefer to listen to some piece from my laptop, and I’m not ashamed of that. Yes, the audiophile fuss sometimes can break the heart of a simple music lover.