So how can a great system solve less than great recordings

Now playing one of my two Better Records. Yes, it is a big step up.
OK, they are worth it. Now more than ever! Goes from the sound of humans to the sound of G-d. A religious experience.
But I still look forward to every “regular” record.

That is my experience as well. When listening to my "regular" records it is real easy to be happy. Beyond happy. They sound wonderful! Especially sometimes when the system is really nice and warm and sounding good, it is easy to think, "How much better can it get?"

But then I put on a White Hot Stamper and instantly, "What were you thinking???!" lol! They are totally better! Even though some like Silk Degrees the noise level on my Hot Stamper is so much worse than my "regular" copy - which actually is a Half Speed Mastered audiophile pressing, and pretty good. But the Hot Stamper is so much better sound quality I just have to put up with the noise, it is so worth it.

My Super Hot copy of Sinatra-Basie is so good the last guy here said it was the best he ever heard anything, anywhere. Well who am I to argue? ;)

It just goes to show how hard this is, how many variables, a lot of them no one would ever imagine could matter. Then you put on two examples of the exact same record and they sound completely different. After a while you begin to realize just how hard it is to even be sure when you say "recording" if you really are hearing the recording, or the pressing of the recording, or the particular copy of the pressing of the recording or....?

How does the great system know which recordings to make sound a lot better, and which to sound only a little better? And how does it know what is better?

Artemus_5

Actually, it is not condescending but right. Yes its about making the music sound better. But, The music sounds best when it is brought forth in the purest of signal from the source material. This was the goal of high fidelity., to be faithful to the music as recorded. That means not adding or subtracting anything to/from it. Adding things to make it sound better, IE tone controls, is often a band aid to fix something in the signal.

Thank you. And well said.

FWIW, I have found that as my system gets better, my music also sound better. Of course there are some which don’t sound as good as others.

Indeed. One thing that really stands out is the way every single record I have sounds so much better now than I ever imagined.

There are several records I always thought were pretty good, but too laid back, reserved, pallid. All three Linda Ronstadt/Nelson Riddle for example, it was like her voice was fine but the orchestra was very background and all the solo sax or whatever was barely there. Now it is just incredible, the orchestra is big and present and detailed, and the sax leaps out in full glory. At the other extreme, Nilsson Schmilsson used to feel a bit edgy and hyped. Now it is just crazy liquid detailed smooth and natural.

One would think anything that "fixed" the reserved Ronstadt would be too much and wreck the Nilsson, but that is not the case. Not at all.

It is one of the more puzzling things, how every recording now is not just different than the others, it is more like it is in its own world. So very different it is hard to believe. I have quite honestly never heard anything like this anywhere else. This I think comes from being genuinely revealing of what is hiding deep down, and not adding anything in the process.

I have a pretty good idea why this is. Frank I am sure has a pretty good idea too. And Krissy, of course. Thank you, my dear. It has nothing to do with being condescending. It is more like, please come swimming, the water’s fine, and oh by the way here is how to not get any up your nose.

The original question is based on a profound and yet all too common misperception about high end audio. It is not about making recordings sound good. The very best cost no object system cannot possibly ever make anything sound good. That is a completely inside out and backwards understanding. What the very best components and systems do is nothing. Nothing. Not one tiny little thing.

Well, except amplify so we can hear. But other than that, nothing. The whole point is to be able to hear the original recording in as much fidelity as possible. Fidelity by the way means truth. High fidelity means highly truthful. Does not mean good. Truth ain’t always pleasant to hear now, is it?

Case in point.

You're over-generalizing. At this level of analysis anyone can say Edison made lousy recordings on his wire thingy, the gramophone sucks, how can even the best system get fidelity from tin cans and string? Fraid you're gonna have to up your game a little to have something more to talk about.