Does good technology guarantees musicality?

This just happened to me with a recently-rebuilt 3910 Denon where 32-bit AKM DACs, a digital input and Class A tube output stage are yielding the most detailed, involving, transparent and musical presentation I have ever heard out of my system.
Fplanner2000 (System | Threads | Answers)

It sounds to me like you may have come to the same conclusion as I did. Specifically, that the APL Denon 3910 with digital input sounds better with an outboard transport than it does with the Denon's own transport.

I'm using mine with a relatively inexpensive Music Hall CD25.2 modded as a transport by Parts Connexion. To my ears, the sound is fuller, richer and more meaty with the Music Hall transport than with the Denon alone.

Chris, Yep! IMHO, most anything sounds better than op amps in the DAC/CDP's I've heard.
BTW, I also prefer tubes. Nothing is perfect and they give me a lot of flexibility that SS doesn't. More fun...........

consider the word "musical". it refers to the attributes of music, namely, pitch, timbre and harmonics.

a recording does accurately represent the timbre and harmonics of instruments., just as any reproduction is not a on-to-one representation of that which is being reproduced.

given an imperfect recording and components which are themselves imperfect, what can one expect ?

the answer is obviously imperfection . some forms of imperfection are acceptable to some people, while other versions of imperfection are acceptable to other people.

thus, the best one can attain is an imperfect representation of music which is acceptable and pleasing to a listener.

perhaps, one could ask another question:

"does good technology guarantee satisfaction with the sound produced by that technology ?"

there is no definitive answer to this question. it is unique to each owner of a stereo system.

accept the premise that whatever one owns will be inaccurate and strive to configure a stereo system that enables one to enjoy the music. the listening is more important than the technology.

in my own case i establish subjective criteria, independent of technology.

i made an error in my previous post, which may not have been corrected.

i meant to say: "a recording does not accurately represent the timbre of instruments......"

sorry for the error, if it wasn't corrected.

Tvad- I went in the other direction, already having an Esoteric UX-1 with arguably one of the best transports made, and then having my Denon upgraded again very recently by APL to be used as a 32-bit DAC. Same result - got tired of dealing with the unreliability(laser) and very average sound. The digital input on the Denon now opens all sorts of possibilities......