Originally Posted by
RothwellAudio
For the majority of music bought today there never was "a recording session", or at least there never was a complete band performance recorded in a single take. Even if there was, it's irrelevant anyway.
If you can hear two instruments playing in unison where before you thought there was only one, or you can hear three voices doing harmony vocals were before you could just hear "some" harmony vocals, then the new piece of gear is more transparent than the old. However, it gets complicated by the fact that our brains have the ability to learn. Having heard the new details revealed by the new kit, you will still hear the new details when you switch back to the old kit because your brain has learned what to listen for.