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Perfect in the personal application you strive for! My large room uses La Scalas, while my smaller room uses tubed JBLs.Yes a good recording goes a long way!
Some of us strive to reproduce a recording faithfully, while others look simply to create a pleasing sound, no matter what the source. Regardless of how you define perfection, can an audio system ever be perfect?
It's not supposed to be perfect. The passionate pursuit of perfection (i think i may have stole that from someone else) is an endless quest. I don't want the perfect system to exist because I'll lose the desire to do what got me into hi-fi in the first place; going out, seeing live music, and wanting to have that experience at home every day at my beck and call. I'm not exactly an outdoorsy guy, but I don't want to be a hermit, either.
No doubt. Of course, that's with the understanding that perfection is in the ear of the beholder. It's certainly possible to have a perfect system. If you reach a point where you believe your system is "perfect," then it is. Maybe it's not perfect to somebody else, but that matters about as much as whether they like the color of your walls, the kind of dog you have or how good your wife can cook. It simply doesn't matter. If you believe your system is perfect, then it is so. But give it another five minutes, and I guarantee you'll hear something to change your mind. For the record, my system sounds perfect to me. For now.
I try to find the best sound I can afford, But components get better all the time. And then new formats come out further improving on what is available. I just keep chasing the dream. I might add that the journey is half the fun.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupery "Zen mind is not Zen mind. That is, if you are attached to Zen mind, then you have a problem, and your way is very narrow. Throwing away Zen mind is correct Zen mind." Seung Sahn
It starts with getting one really nice piece of equipment, then you upgrade everything else to its standard. By the time that's done, the first piece you bought is out of date, so you upgrade it, and it becomes better than everything else. The process has started all over again!
If you're after perfect sound reproduction the answer is, I believe, no. The fact that it is recorded music played through an electronic medium negates that possibility. But a system that pleases on every level, yes, that's possiblebut a lot depends on where the listener "is at".
Alas, probably not. Unless you're so wealthy you can afford to have a team of engineers build you a system from the chips up just for your listening space and your ears, with the features and UI that you want. Of course that's not to say that you can't put together a system that will make you very happy.
Listening to the music is a very subjective experience.Some times you like how your system sounds some times don't.Do you need a better component?Who knows.If it sounds perfect for you it might not be so for your friend, and if that friend will point out those "flaws" than the worm of doubt will it you from inside and drive you crazy to the point of changing components.Only right for people with stable psych you might say,but who in this hobby is?
It will be somedaymaybe a lot sooner than we think. With hi-rez recordings and a transparent playback system, we'll be there. The only limitation will be the microphone itself. How much does it distort ? We won't know until we have a hyper-transparent system. With big gains being made in playbackalmost by the yearthere's no reason to think that it won't happen.