Tired?

A great system invites you to listen all night. A not-so-great one fatigues and wears you out.

You struggle to stay engaged.

Listening fatigue has identifiable causes, and once you know what to listen for, you start hearing them everywhere. Distortion or harshness in the upper midrange and lower treble, even at levels well below what most measurement gear flags as a problem, is exhausting to the brain over time. Jitter in digital sources adds a faint, restless edge to transients that the conscious ear may not catch but the subconscious ear absolutely does. Room reflections smear notes into one another so the brain has to work harder to separate them. 

A neutral, low-distortion system across the entire band has the opposite quality. It sounds quiet — not in volume, but in noise floor and in effort. You can play it loud, and it's inviting, not tiring.

The best compliment a system can receive is that you stayed up too late and want to do it again tomorrow.