Audiophile pressings on mid-fi equipment
My analogue front end is mid-fi (at best). Denon DL-103 mounted on Rega RB300 arm on Systemdek IIX turntable isn't going to turn any heads, that's for sure.
What's my point? I've heard theories that so-called 'audiophile' pressings sound good on mid-fi equipment, but as the audio chain gets better, those same audiophile pressings start sounding crappier and crappier. I haven't had a chance to verify this urban myth with my own ears, so I'm curious to learn if anyone here feels there is some truth to that?
My personal experience is, overall, I tend to enjoy original, or early pressings better than I enjoy audiophile reissues. It's hard to generalize, of course, but I somehow feel that good early pressings seem to contain more musical energy than the newly minted audiophile reissues (I'm talking classic rock/jazz catalog here; but the same logic applies to classical/world music of course). Good old pressings always get my blood pumping, while most of the time their audiophile reissues, while sounding very nice and warm and all that, often fail to get me going emotionally.
And I'm getting that distinction from the mid-fi system. I cannot help but wonder if my impressions would change should I go up the totem pole and upgrade my system to a much pricier high-end hi fi?
Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?
Alex.