Sometimes you have to change you

Yes of course, we need to tune ourselves to perception.

The best system upgrade is a few days of not listening to our system.

when i am dissatisfied with a particular recording, i have been known to rip it onto my hard drive and apply various of DSP to it, then burn another disc and listen to that disc instead, with greater satisfaction than with the original disc. 

I’ve never felt it was the source music causing me to react differently as that does not change. My system hasn’t changed either. I normally listen at night before going to bed. That being said it is me that changes and causes me to have slightly different listening experiences. Our brain and our body are by far the most sophisticated components in our listening rooms. Our frame of mind, our daily aches and pains, stress or anxiety all affect our listening experience. When we are relaxed, comfortable and "in the mood" our enjoyment is greater and the same recording we’ve always known from the same source, puts us in the zone. I believe the room is just as important as the gear that effects our listening enjoyment. I have a dedicated closed room with no windows and 3 zones of lighting control and when dimmed down I become very relaxed and my comfortable chair helps melt the days events away to where I can thoroughly enjoy the music.

I have experienced this many times over the years.  It usually centers around pace rather than tonality, timbre etc.

My remedy is to set the volume at zero and then put a 78 on my 1917 Victrola and crank it and listen to a few minutes (one side).

Going back to the main rig and all is well!  Self-deception can be a friend or a foe.

Regards,

barts

It always amazes and confuses me that I can listen to an album on Monday and love it and then listen again on Thursday and Meh, it does nothing for me.

JD