Dear Ramanujam,
The existential questions have to be answered!
First, thanks for the kind words. You are welcome any number of times, to help make up your mind.
The immediate perception of music hinges on the vocal range, what we term basically as the midrange, and in which region almost 90% of music resides. We, as humans, are so well attuned to the voice, since we hear it all the time from our loved ones, and reaction to which is necessary for our instinctive survival. This helps us recognize easily the reproduction of voice in music systems as to whether it is natural and true-to-life.
The music system has to get this right, or else it is not worth it at all. Fortunately, this includes almost all of music. The system has to be transparent to the recording, for voice and acoustic music to sound natural. Once this is achieved, the system will not discriminate, and will play all music well.
There are two caveats here - recordings, and acoustic music. Music through acoustic instruments you can readily hear live, sometimes with no help from electronics. This music forms a ready reference to compare reproduced music with. If acoustic instruments come through naturally, with the full harmonic structure intact, the music system is doing its job well.
Recording quality is variable, and you will hear the variation through a good music system. However, the good system will still allow the music to flow through, and allow you to enjoy the music around the vagaries of the recording.
Often, the first listen to a good system is quite underwhelming. Nothing jumps out to grab your attention, no bass and treble to highlight the music. But, that is as it should be, because the good system presents everything in equal measure. It is on prolonged listening that you realize that you are listening to real music, in a most natural manner of presentation. As, in real life!
And you do listen to the music through a system. You change any one component, and you change the system. You have to listen and judge all over again. There is no way of short circuiting this, by reading reviews - you physically have to put the system together and listen to music through it.
How does this relate to your experiences? I do not presume to judge what you hear, because you hear what you hear. I hope it can help you resolve some of the questions in your mind. And, once you have become used to music through tube electronics, there's no way you'll go back to solid-state!
Regards,
Viren
