Does hearing the best in high end audio make your opinions more valid?

Mid Ender asks: Can they be separated? If so, how?

melbguyone wrote: "If you’re list(en)ing to the sound of the equipment, it’s not high end... " at first I thought what?.. And then I thought about it more.. An yes. it is true. If the moment is involving you in the music so totally you forget all else but the music.. Then it is (REALLY) high end.
If you are just listening to the SOUND, it is just some equipment piled up.
Thus ’high end’ takes on a new better meaning. I like it.                                         
And/But one can go to that old audiophile curse, Where your mind is STUCK on listening to the sound, and you can’t escape to just enjoy the music.( Usually after recently buying some new audio toy.)

If you're listening to the sound of the equipment then it's totally failing to do it's job regardless of price.

I've certainly had my fair of hearing expensive systems sounding bland and 'monochromatic' before. Then there were the Quad electrostatics which sounded weird on Pop, the Naim Ovators (early s6000s I think) which were only 'good'. We were expecting 'great' at that price from Naim Audio.

We're often advised to go and listen to live music to help establish a frame of reference but unfortunately a lot of venues seem to have bad (phasey?) acoustics. Perhaps I've been unlucky but I did manage to catch a beautiful piano recital in an old rickety theatre some while back. I was surprised at how loud a piano can get in a small venue, you really have to hear it for yourself.

On the other hand I can't help but notice that PA equipment seems to have come on leaps and bounds. The sonics at the last Richard Hawley concert were more than acceptable. I didn't once start wishing that it sounded like my system back home. In fact it would have blown my system right out of the water on sheer power alone. It wasn't just power though, there was plenty of texture and timbre thrown in too. 

There's a few shows coming up here in the next few months. Having not been to one for about a decade, (Manchester 2007/8?) with a but of luck I will be able get to one of them. Just got to remember to not get my expectations up too high.

"If you’re listening to the sound of the equipment then it’s totally failing to do it’s job regardless of price."

I cannot agree more, but some might disagree. I think if you are really focusing on getting the right sound, you have a hobby. Nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, many people enjoy the music, it truly moves them, regardless of the system it is playing on. There is nothing wrong with having even "better" equipment, but it will not make you enjoy the music more. At least it does not do it for me. You may find different things in the recording and babble about it whole day long and that is fair and true, but who has not enjoyed music on some boombox at age of fifteen?

I started growing up listening to records on Dual 1225 turntable. By any means, not anything to brag about these days. No fancy power cord, no unidirectional interconnects, nothing of that sort. Well, the thing was magic.