Some of the recordings I had stood out as bad mixes, I still enjoy the music but all along I’m thinking why did they put both guitar and vocals out the same speaker? The other day I was listening to the Stones in mono and thought briefly, what terrible staging. lol.
The only speakers I have that I paid retail price for I bought in the 90s. I know I can improve but for the investment I’m rather proud of my result. I worried I wouldn’t fit in here at all but I think we share common concerns with sources, placement, calibration, etc. I avoid discussing equipment but enjoy reading about your killer systems.
First thing I do when I get a new album is see if there’s a recording already online. I have a couple thousand CDs and albums and they’re all on my PC. I like to see if I can find definitive mixes, I try my best to blind compare in Foobar. Mainly listen through HEOS, I have dozens of play lists from 37 genres, limited to 310 songs which is hard for some while others I mix with similar stuff.