If a lot of rock, pop, new music , is recorded and mastered at a poor to average quality, then wouldn’t an entry level affordable System, sound better than a High-end, very Revealing Neutral expensive System?
In a word, no. A better system can and does often make all recordings sound better, even recordings that were not captured well.
My experience is that the speakers far and away make the largest difference with playback, along with the room that the speakers are playing music in. Case in point: My general purpose system has a pair of large German floorstanding speakers (T+A Criterion 160). They are very efficient (mid 90's at 1 watt), get down to 20 Hz, and they sound great. I've tried a number of electronics with them, from a Yamaha receiver to current Mcintosh offerings (MCT80, D150, MC152), to custom tube preamp/power amps. There is a noticeable improvement when stepping up from the Yamaha to the Mcintosh or tube amps, but the speakers still sound very good even with the Yamaha receiver (better than one would expect).
The Mcintosh front end has a I2S interface from the MCT80 to the D150. The improvement in sound quality is readily picked up by the listener with all recordings, from CD's that were not recorded well, all the way up to SACD which is processed via bitstrem from the MCT80 to the D150. The MC152 is a very neutral and detailed power amp. Although it is rated at 150 watts, it's actually more like a 200 watt amp.
The major point is that when putting together a system, get the speakers sorted out IN YOUR listening environment. Once that is achieved, the electronics selected should be based on one's budget that will drive the speakers to the user's desired listening levels.
