It is a complex relationship between sound quality and enjoyment and I do
not intend to exhaust the topic here.

I have posted before that I was 'converted' to classical music by the
arrival of a great sounding piece of stereo hardware in my home.  Suddenly
the sensual nature of the instruments took on a life of their own and I
have not found this richness in 'electrically' generated sounds in pop,
and then ceased to try.

It was from the subsequent years of listenting and learning about CM
that I developed an ear for the 'musical content' and now enjoy scratchy
recordings solely for the sake of the performance.  I especially enjoy
vintage clips and performances in radio shows like the intermissions from
the Met broadcasts, Jim Svjeda from KUSC and a host of other sources.

I consider live performances to most fully realize the enjoyment of
both the purely sensual and the performance characteritics of the music,
both realms which I feel are compromised, by definition, in recordings.
Recordings, even lo-fidelity ones can, however, capture and convey
incredible music, performances and interpretations, and are to be enjoyed.

It is hard to complain about having so much of a good thing (fidelity and
richness) that this abundance inhibits concentration on the 'musical
content'.  but I have raised the question many times with myself:  "what
is it that you are enjoying?" It is this checking myself, and hopefully
correcting my focus, which is one of the duties of being a careful
listener.

David Robertson