The sense of smell evokes memories, while the sense of hearing evokes emotions


MrD, you touched upon this in your recent post.
I thought it was a subject worth discussing here.
Music can move us through emotional connection, it is well known.
A question for all of you.
Does playing your music on your system increase emotional connection more than playing it through a less HiFi system? 
One aspect of audio equipment marketing is for it's technical ability to bring us closer to the music by "getting out of the way" disappearing as some reviewers say. Suppose there was a speaker or amp that excelled in providing emotional connection, but measured poorly. Would you be willing to disregard the measurements and just go with your ears or  your heart and soul? I believe that SET / horns systems are an example of this. This is not about promoting SET / horns, but just brought up as an example that some people may have already reached this conclusion. Just my thoughts, I welcome civilized and rational comments. I am open to those with a deeper understanding of this subject.
Dennis

capstan

Actually, my post above over-simplifies the question. Better sonic quality in either recording, playback, or both, can make more audible two instruments, or two voices, playing or singing notes that are close but different that lesser recordings or reproducing equipment can obscure. That can have an effect on both the emotional and intellectual connection with the music.

Here's an example from a friend of mine who had no interest in hi-fi, but was a rabid music lover: His "stereo" was one of those all-in-one units with a "flip-down" turntable (older guys will know what I'm talking about ;-). The speakers folded together to make the unit portable, and when swung out were only a foot or so apart. Because of that, he never heard that there were two organs playing that riff in Elton John's "Bennie & The Jets", not one organ playing all the notes heard. The two organ parts, one in each stereo channel, were playing "question and answer" parts, a musical construct. Hearing the two parts separately changed their musical meaning, effecting both his emotional and intellectual response to the music.

J.S. Bach's Concerto For 4 Harpsichords And Orchestra is incredibly dense with notes from the harpsichords (and those of the orchestra), and the better the recording and reproduction, the more clearly can the notes played by each harpsichord be heard as separate musical lines, essential to appreciating the music. Again, that is of both emotional and intellectual benefit.

The better the recording and reproduction, the more audible will be the difference in timbre between two females singing close harmonies (I'm thinking of Iris Dement and Emmylou Harris in a recording of them I have), the beauty in the music obscured by insufficiently high recording and/or reproduction quality.

Plus, high quality sound is just more fun than lo-fi!

But seriously, this whole subject of sensory perception and the effects of local surroundings on the perceptions of hearing, taste, touch and sight has been been discussed ad nausea by Peter (RIP) and May Belt for the past thirty years. You can get free samples of PWB Silver Rainbow 🌈  Foil and Cream Electret just by asking. Nothing like a little mind-matter interaction to enhance the audiophile experience. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. 
Playback of recorded music is the closest thing we have to a time machine. It is an art form that exists in the time domain and, unlike film, which is experienced in a similar manner, music works through a sense that doesn't require light, and at one time gave us the earliest and most accurate directional cues as to which the direction the sabre tooth tiger lurked. Even though we can't see some things, we hear them first.
geoffkait, I've found that a glass of good bourbon or Scotch works as well. I'm serious.