Seeking the Original Intent
 

Over past couple of decades, I have constructed an audio system which gives me consistently pleasurable listening experiences. However, for the longest time it was CD-, FM- and vinyl-based, and so earlier this year I decided to add streaming to the mix. I attended the AXPONA show, listened (for my purposes, a fruitless exercise actually except for auditioning cabling and power conditioning, I came to realize in hindsight) and made various equipment decisions. My goal was to incorporate into my system a high resolution digital streaming capability of a quality commensurate with the rest of my gear.

What I purchased is tangential to the reason for this post; those audio components are now included under my signature. Furthermore, my system hardly represents the ultimate, but, again, that fact is not germane to the remainder of this post.

At this point, I now have multiple ways to listen to the same recording, utilizing seven different sources as well as four different DACs for converting the sources which are digital. Not surprisingly, dependent upon the source (and, if digital, the conversion mechanism), the resultant music, for the most part, can sound markedly different. Sometimes the voice is forward, other times receding; sometimes the bass is pervasive, other times it is tight; etc.

While I could simply keep expanding playlists of the source, medium and playback equipment combination that sounds best for each recording -- and I may well start doing that, this conundrum has gotten me to start thinking: what was the sound the performer(s) and producer/engineer originally intended in making that recording? For example, take Adele's voice. The essence of her voice is recognizable regardless, but the totality of the way her voice sounds will, to a great or lesser degree, be a bit different based on whether I listen to her on vinyl, CD, Blu-ray (concert) or high-res streaming. Each version, still sounds "nice" to me, but I really wish I knew what her actual voice sounded like and, consequently, could listen to "that" voice through my system.

I am describing a "high-class" problem, I know. Nevertheless, it gnaws at me a bit. I am interested how others handle it.

Seeking the Original Intent
 

It’s an interesting, if first-world, problem. If I have the same recording in multiple formats, I tend to default to the one which I enjoy the most (which may not always be the best “audiophile” sound) and forget the rest. Usually this is the format for which the recording was originally mastered, so for instance most 50s-70s recordings I prefer on vinyl, while music more recently recorded in the age of modern digital, especially classical, is better digital. The exception to that is when I’m just relaxing and don’t feel like getting up to flip records - then it all sounds good from the server using Roon and an iPad.[emoji41]

As for modern recordings on vinyl, I guess I don’t see the point in vinyl issues of music that’s been well recorded and mastered for digital on good modern digital equipment.