Expensive system for non audiophile listeners - is it worth it?

[Bradford]

I have listened to Ska and Rockabilly (like the OP mentioned) in the car, on a tradesman type of 12/18v blue tooth speaker and on a proper stereo.
All give enjoyment.

However I was referring to the C-cells for the toys that the females predominantly are reported to use.

I know all forms and levels of music systems convey enjoyment. How much, the level of and intensity are debatable subject matters. I don't do background music. I devote rapt attention time to my listening sessions and silence the house background noise in preparation. I mentioned extreme, somewhat, but have associated with individuals who go well beyond my efforts. There seems to be a trend or effort in various comments herein to associate genre with sound/recording quality. That may casually be accurate or generally but there are plenty of examples otherwise. I'm primarily a jazz lover, all types and eras, but I listen to everything from Hip-hop, Metal, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Folk, World, Reggae, Indie, New Age,
Rockabilly, Progressive Rock, and have had an extensive Classical exposure, Chamber and Symphonic. Good and bad recording production for any of it and have seen all of that live many hundreds of times. 10th. row, center for 25 years, Cleveland Orchestra. My answer and advice to the OP would still be that if you can possibly afford even a very modest system, I consider it a very worthwhile investment. IMHO!
Very few of those female entertainment devices require ' C ' cells so I would have never gotten there. I had to make a couple calls to get first hand info for that one! Lol

 

[Bradford]

I know all forms and levels of music systems convey enjoyment. How much, the level of and intensity are debatable subject matters. I don't do background music. I devote rapt attention time to my listening sessions and silence the house background noise in preparation. I mentioned extreme, somewhat, but have associated with individuals who go well beyond my efforts. There seems to be a trend or effort in various comments herein to associate genre with sound/recording quality. That may casually be accurate or generally but there are plenty of examples otherwise. I'm primarily a jazz lover, all types and eras, but I listen to everything from Hip-hop, Metal, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Folk, World, Reggae, Indie, New Age,
Rockabilly, Progressive Rock, and have had an extensive Classical exposure, Chamber and Symphonic. Good and bad recording production for any of it and have seen all of that live many hundreds of times. 10th. row, center for 25 years, Cleveland Orchestra. My answer and advice to the OP would still be that if you can possibly afford even a very modest system, I consider it a very worthwhile investment. IMHO!
Very few of those female entertainment devices require ' C ' cells so I would have never gotten there. I had to make a couple calls to get first hand info for that one! Lol

Bradford,
And my mobile system is 3 amps, fronts, sides, rears and sub with a lined, Brownbread, cab. Nutjob that I am!

 

[Bradford]

Bradford,
And my mobile system is 3 amps, fronts, sides, rears and sub with a lined, Brownbread, cab. Nutjob that I am!

Bradford,
And my mobile system is 3 amps, fronts, sides, rears and sub with a lined, Brownbread, cab. Nutjob that I am!

 

[Bradford]

Caesar, Clowns? Exactly whom are you referring to? I didn't realize this was about name calling!

 

[SoupRKnowva]

I see several other metal heads in here, rock on. If I can only listen to one track on a new system to evaluate I choose this one

its an incredible poorly mastered album, but also one of my favorites, and I listen to it somewhat regularly on my main rig and have been using it as a reference track for many years at this point. I can learn more by about the things I care about in a rig from this one track than any other. I listen to a ton of metal, everything from death core and technical death metal to power metal, most of it isn't as poorly done as that Fleshgod Apocalypse track, but its certainly not what id call " audiophile". that has never stopped me from wanting to make my rig better and better. Ive always wanted to hear the metal I listen to in the highest fidelity possible. That fleshgod apocalypse song brings many audiophile rigs to their knees as well, they just fall apart, which quickly lets me separate the wheat from the chaff as it were.

Or maybe this is the wrong way to look at it, for me, metal is a difficult genre to reproduce on a stereo, there is often a great deal happening, and being able to pick all of that apart, to make sense of it and render it without blurring things together is something you need better and better equipment to pull of.

I have one slam metal album, Obscene Majesty by Devourment, that I enjoyed, tho rarely, it was always mostly just a mess. But I hadn't listened to it in several years, and a few months back I put it on again, and was truly able to sit and appreciate the entire album as music rather than just mush for the first time, this is why im an audiophile and continue to pursue the best stereo I can, for moments like that.

to answer the OPs question, I think it really depends on you, not the music you listen to. Do you want to hear the music you listen to in the clearest way possible? I think there are benefits to a nice rig for basically any type of music if you want them.

 

[V-Fi]

@SoupRKnowva Completely agree on both bands/albums! I think people are often put off by the theatrics (and admittedly sometimes the content is a bit over the top) when it comes to metal. But if they can get past that, the musicianship is often obscenely good. It's an acquired taste for some people yet worth the effort in my opinion.

Even with bad quality metal recordings, it makes me think of listening to certain ancient jazz recordings which are mono, poor extension on both ends, just limited fidelity all around, but damn if the talent being displayed doesn't transcend all that. Same thing with certain metal releases.Then again some of them are actually quite well done which makes it that much easier to enjoy the magic.

Here's one such gem which usually goes under the radar. Norwegian thrash crew Inculter with their 2019 release Fatal Visions. DR12 recording, sounds like you are right there in the studio with them, plus the music puts a big smile on my face.

 

[Devil Horns]

Agree 100% with my fellow metal heads @SoupRKnowva and @V-Fi. Metal can be a fiendishly complex genre that tests hi-fi systems in ways 99% of most audiophile fare is unable to. It really demands the best to hear the best, even if most recording were made on a shoe-string budget, but ironically it's these "under produced" albums that shine the brightest, letting you hear the music without a lot of studio fluff and subterfuge.

Thanks for the Inculter link above. Gave it a quick listen and it sounds great. Very early Sepultura-ish.

Speaking of thrash, here's a track from the debut album of Colombian metal band Satan's Hammer that has a surprisingly great but simple production: