High fidelity is very important to me. I never use headphones - I doubt they can ever sound as good as quality speakers can. I prefer to listen to music in an otherwise quiet environment.
I notice recording quality issues on some music videos, cassettes, videotapes, old songs (early 80's or before), and indie songs, the last two categories which I generally dislike. Muddled sound, volume differences, too little channel separation, and the wrong amount of bass all bother me a lot. By the way, I find that old rock recordings as a rule sound bad on low-fi systems.
The only time I've noticed the catch-22 using hi-fi is with Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby." Listening closely, all the instruments basically make cacophony. If documents didn't suggest otherwise, I'd wonder if it was an unsatisfying recording that was donated to the soundtrack of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
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