Many of my readers write to me in defense of the love of music vs. the love of the gear. And sure, who would argue that at the end of the day it is all about music? But the argument that "I don't care about the gear" as much as I care about the music wears a little thin sometimes. I get it.
If you're not going to live shows then you're listening to music on the gear. Plain and simple. And the better that gear, the better the music you're listening to. You're honoring that music.
Think you're immune to the gear? I would argue that most of us have certain limits on just how bad that gear is before we don't like the music anymore. And if you're reading this post you're probably more into the combination of performance and musical content than most.
I find that I can more easily listen and enjoy poorly recorded music on a good system than I can tolerate a bad system's performance over time. On the one hand I can pull myself away from the poor recording and just lap up the music for what it is. On the other hand, my ears become offended way too quickly with bright, harsh, uninvolving sounds by any performer playing even the best music in the world, if it is poorly reproduced.
I think there's a fine balance to be had here.
