What do you care about in this hobby?

@mapman “What do you care about in this hobby?”

l have read so many interesting comments on this discussion. I believe your original post idea was for equipment only based replies, hence your bullet points. There have been so many music first inspired replies as well.

@knotscott ”Enjoyment”

….sound quality on a budget at a premium

@slaw ”Sound quality……

I’d include “involving” …. value at all levels

@rvpiano “Music first”

The rest will take care of itself.

@mattmiller “It has always been about the MUSIC first….”

… the desire to have the music playing as if the group was in front of me….

@russwill “The music”

l’d listen on an old boombox if that was all l had

@jsalerno277 “… l have auditioned 7 figure systems that have accurate sound”

…..but fail to express emotion and do not touch my soul”

I was wondering reading all the posts what now is perceived as the main consideration? In other words, “What do you care (more) about in this hobby?”

Lots of comments on emotion versus cost. Is it a “chicken or the egg” syndrome?
So for each individual there can be a choice, the “music” (soul) or the “sound” (accuracy), and which is perceived as the right route.

The question is, can well loved music mitigate and transcend any inabilities of a system, or is it the all-consuming accuracy of the system itself that is more important?

No. 1 is sound quality, amazing how this never ceases to be at top. So many ways to alter the presentation within a pretty much static setup.

I can only respond from my perspective and I do not believe we can reach an axiom, for this is a subjective hobby.  I am first a lover of music, especially live, acoustic musical performances as well as recorded performances.  Therefore, composition and performance transcend the ability of any system to reproduce the recording of the subject piece.  Recordings of favorite compositions can bring a tear to my eye and affect my soul listening in my backyard with a plastic glass of gin, lemonade, and mint sprig in hand, on a Bose portable mini, as well as with a Riedel goblet of a 95+ rated Amorone on my main rig. However, I am an audiophile not only from the musical appreciation perspective but also from the perspective of the system’s ability to reproduce the emotional experience of the composition and performance and bring me closer to memories of the emotional experience of attending live acoustic musical performances.  Whether you like or hate his publications, I am a  disciple of  Harry Pearson and the lexicon and philosophy of evaluating systems in the established in 1970s.  The goal of approaching “The Absolute Sound” in reproduced music is unrealistic (a whole other discussion), but for me, it is a goal of providing a glimpse of the absolute sound, which from my perspective, amplifies the emotional experience I receive from the recorded piece.  I find the engineering of the recording the limiting factor more so than the system. So, after much pontificating to reach a conclusion, music does transcend any inabilities of a system (or recording) and it is not the arbitrary all-consuming accuracy of the system (or recording) itself that is more important to me.  However, the system (or recording) can enhance or diminish my emotional  experience to a piece, leading to my original statement that I have heard expensive systems that did not let me connect emotionally to familiar recordings as well as less expensive systems.  

"E's off his meds again....*sigh*  Bring out the net and the long-sleeved canvas coat...."  

A court order is just a sheet of paper, they can't keep me from my chosen state of minds.  

To me, this hobby is all about a form of minMax optimization, i.e., minimal cost and maximal performance.  Nothing less.  Nothing more.