Shawn, I must chime in here. I read your post several times. Do not spend another dime, especially up to $8000, until we know more. I think what you are trying to do is frankly impossible with high end gear. Why spend another $8000 on another piece of high end gear that is a little colored or warm or whatever. It will not, in the end, give you what you are looking for.
All high end gear is rather true to the source and garbage in is garbage out even if the piece is somewhat off neutral. Bad records will always sound bad on any piece of gear or rig costing high end money. That is the simple fact and you cannot escape it in high end audio.
Changing a source will not do what you are looking for.
Please share your current system. You have some questions to answer before acting. What percentage of your music is poorly recorded? 80%?
Do you listen to poorly recorded music 80% of the time? If so, another complete direction is needed. Ya, sell your stuff and assemble a rig that gets you where you want. Frankly, a new high end source will not do it.
Almarg, is all over it. You need an EQ and you need a speaker that is friendly to what you want. My sense is such a speaker will not be your typical high end speaker. It may be pro sound or such.
Ever noticed how poor recordings sound decent on a Bose system or decent car stereo? Ya, this is the direction you need to go.
I have never answered a thread like this, I can't even believe I am writing this, but if I read your post correctly your case is different.
All high end gear is rather true to the source and garbage in is garbage out even if the piece is somewhat off neutral. Bad records will always sound bad on any piece of gear or rig costing high end money. That is the simple fact and you cannot escape it in high end audio.
Changing a source will not do what you are looking for.
Please share your current system. You have some questions to answer before acting. What percentage of your music is poorly recorded? 80%?
Do you listen to poorly recorded music 80% of the time? If so, another complete direction is needed. Ya, sell your stuff and assemble a rig that gets you where you want. Frankly, a new high end source will not do it.
Almarg, is all over it. You need an EQ and you need a speaker that is friendly to what you want. My sense is such a speaker will not be your typical high end speaker. It may be pro sound or such.
Ever noticed how poor recordings sound decent on a Bose system or decent car stereo? Ya, this is the direction you need to go.
I have never answered a thread like this, I can't even believe I am writing this, but if I read your post correctly your case is different.