What are your own subjective criteria for rating or judging a component and or system?

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Air

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I often reflect on memorable experiences with systems and products and try to figure out what differentiates the products I love and those that I think are good or not my cup of tea. Of course, I know and accept many intervening variables, from the music to the room and even my mood, but still, I think I have some idea of which products get under my skin. There are commonalities that I think I can pinpoint. For me, this has nothing to do with price points because I tend to think that what matters to me I can find in relatively low-end products(price) and also in the top echelon of the market.

Something that Leo mentioned in his thread triggered me to wonder if others also have a set of criteria, either explicitly or implicitly. Here is his courageous statement(bold is my edit)
The question I want to raise though, based on the premise this exercise was borne of: so how does my system sound?
I’m trying to approach this from a non-threatening, but informative perspective.
From the measurements Ive furnished here:
1.How do you reconcile my highly detailed soundstage?
2. How does my system focus?
3. How do you account for the apparent depth my system achieves.

The above are attributes I’ve heard only on a handful of systems. Anyone who’s ever come to listen to my system will attest.

These are loaded questions of course. You can’t account for the above from these measurements. Yet the above apparitions are the very definition of HiFi for me today. I dont really care if my FR is not dead accurate. I am able to believe the sounds I’m hearing. They do not seem foreign in any way. Yes, drums sound big. Maybe bigger than they should. But so what? I love it. The piano again, sounds as natural as I’ve heard it anywhere.

I guess the question is, what, in the absence of Sinad or Spinorama defines an excellent product - purely subjective?
 
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