Mediocre recordings with great gear vs great recordings with mediocre gear?

[stehno]

This is an interesting post Stehno. If you are right about superior systems overcoming limitations of the room and the recording, then the majority of viewers of system videos would reach some kind of consensus about the superiority of certain videos reflecting the superiority of certain systems. And yet, I don’t see this consensus. All sorts of people like all sorts of system videos, seemingly regardless of the system or the room treatments or the recordings.

Don't sell yourself short, Peter. Your post is even more interesting as historically and as substantiated here you seem to base your positions and strategies based on consensus.

Despite your potentially knowning full well this industry is all over the map on perhaps every last subject and yet you still put stock in a consensus? Your strategy might make for good socializing or comradery but will do very little to assist you with genuine and substantial performance improvements.

 

[PeterA]

Don't sell yourself short, Peter. Your post is even more interesting as historically and as substantiated here you seem to base your positions and strategies based on consensus.

Despite your potentially knowning full well this industry is all over the map on perhaps every last subject and yet you still put stock in a consensus? Your strategy might make for good socializing or comradery but will do very little to assist you with genuine and substantial performance improvements.

That was not my point at all. My strategies have nothing to do with consensus and besides, they shifted 180° about two years ago. Like you I think, I don’t follow the conventional wisdom on audio file acoustic room treatments, expensive power cords and wires, power conditioning, audio file accessories. Also like you, I post videos of my system to share with others.

You hold up your system at warp nine volume as being superior. You talk about all the issues that you have solved with your superior solutions, but you don’t really describe the solutions or define the problems you are solving. You never talk about specifics, but you always point to the results and provide your countless videos as evidence of those results.

The point I am trying to make is that your many videos should be reflective of the superiority of your system and that people who hear that superiority should tend to agree that you have solved the very issues that plague most other systems by basically agreeing with you that your videos sound great. I happen to like some of your videos but can’t really relate to the music.

I know full well that there is no consensus in this hobby.

 

[Rexp]

A good digital recording sounds good on budget to high end sources. So if you only use good recordings, no need to spend a lot on a DAC. Unfortunately most digital recordings are not good, hence the need for a high end DAC that filters out the distortion?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

A good digital recording sounds good on budget to high end sources.

agree that today most levels of digital playback are quite good and are enjoyable.

So if you only use good recordings, no need to spend a lot on a DAC. Unfortunately most digital recordings are not good,

i find there are plenty of high quality digital recordings across many genres. very happy with the new digital recordings i find all the time.

hence the need for a high end DAC that filters out the distortion?

i find that even fine recordings do contain digital nasties which my dac does have a circuit for, the "Wadax" musIC Feed-forward Error Correction Process. so it is possible to avoid those things. there is more to musical goodness than eliminating negatives, but it is important to the final experience.

 

[Another Johnson]

To the OP … Why not buy the best releases of the best recordings of the best performances of the music you enjoy? And play them on the best equipment that you can afford?

The advice 50 years ago was to get the best cartridge and tonearm you could afford so that your records would not be damaged by excessive VTF or gouging stylus.

That way, when you upgrade, the records are still in decent condition.

 

[thedudeabides]

Despite your potentially knowning full well this industry is all over the map on perhaps every last subject and yet you still put stock in a consensus? Your strategy might make for good socializing or comradery but will do very little to assist you with genuine and substantial performance improvements.

Peter should apologize to you for having his own opinion. How dare he feel differently than you. I admire your humbleness, humility and lack of arrogance.

 

[thedudeabides]

You hold up your system at warp nine volume as being superior.

How dare you question his opinion. We all know his system is superior. There is a clear consensus on that point.

 

[DetroitVinylRob]

So fumbling toward ecstasy… there are many paths. For me, the rub comes in that many of my vast musical interests are quite often not so comfortably within the pantheon of highest fidelity, nor popular, though I adore them and that is always, always, first. AND, a better room, better gear, better set up, better mains, continue to bring new insights and seemingly endless sonic gifts over time.

Back in the late seventies, early eighties I acquired what for me was a killer turntable/tonearm/cartridge, an LP12. And for the next 20 some odd years, continued to improve my kit and my room, and bought tons of vinyl that I still have and listen to today.

Someone might say that they don’t like the Linn, others might suggest that I should’ve spent more money on speakers, and yet others would say that I should’ve assembled a more balanced system to get the biggest bang for my buck.

But having again, what was for me a very musical, very killer source, it always had more to say, always told a musical/emotional truth, and I continued to be able to grow as a listener and as an audiophile and continued to hone my kit, my set up, and my understanding, evolving through all kinds of downstream gear, and all while enjoying myself.

I have never regretted that fundamental choice. Just one traveler and one pov.

So, what is “best”?