[gazar]

I would say that human factors have a huge impact on how you percieve sound quality. Mood/state of mind, etc. Differences in hearing of course play a big part but the human brain has an uncanny ability to compensate for anything but severe hearing impairment.
 
Quality of recorded material plays a big part here. I am not talking about compressed Vs lossless here. IME very few of us can tell the difference between variations of compression rate, although going between the extremes of 128 kbps V lossless can be quite obvious.  Mastering and production is the main factor. Just compare the excellent ECM label or indeed Linn records to your average CD (or vinyl).
 
Speakers/headphones would be next on my list. They ultimately deliver the end product. Speaker sensitivity and crossover design being the major factor here. EDIT: Not forgetting speaker placement and room interaction ( which i did) 
 
Amplification, Some say that all well designed amps should sound the same, I disagree. If you like warm and cuddly, there are amps that will do that for you, If you prefer sharp and detailed, there are loads of amps that will provide just that.
 
Source i.e Turntables/ arm/cartridge/ phono can and do make major differences. less so CD Players, and PC based systems. Mostly down to external/internal DAC quality and to a far lesser degree, the transport mechanism. IMO to detect any major differences you are normally talking major price differences, 
 
Mains quality. Can make a major difference if you have RF or DC interference. Most decent equipment has some in built filtering and can handle average voltage and frequency swings. However mains conditioning will make big improvements in some cases.
 
Cables Dangerous subject on most if not all Hi fi related forums. My opinion is that cables can make a difference, but only by fine tuning a system that has good synergy to start with. I don't believe they can cure all ills or indeed offer any magical improvements.
 
ATB,
 
Gaz.

 

[passfan]

by far the recording is number 1. Anyone that has heard a Maple Shade recording know this.
 
The rest maters very little.

 

[doctorcilantro]

It has to be a synergy, overall. I'm always tempted to say "transducers", but a few years ago I demoed a nice little 5687/EL84 amp on some Klipsch RF7s, and compared to the 211 SET monoblocks, it was just unbearable. 

 

[kboe]

Any rig you've heard that was better than yours.... 

 

[subtle]

Definitely the Cinnamon Roll.

 

[kboe]

That made my day!  So true its not even funny.
 
Quote:

Definitely the Cinnamon Roll.

 

[cyong11]

My order is based on tier rather than rank.
 
Tier 1: Recording quality, Speakers/headphones, Amp/Preamp
Tier 2: Source quality, Cables
Tier 3: Power supply
 
I ruled out listener's hearing as it can improve with more listening. Not as inborn as other factors.

 

[cyong11]

Let me list another factor concerning sound quality. Speakers placement greatly affect audio quality especially soundstage. Even best speakers sound disappointing without proper set up positioning. In this sense listener's hearing is essential to optimize this work.

 

[E8ArmyDiver]

The great speaker manufacturer Bill Dundleston(I hope I spelled that correctly)of Legacy Speakers once made a comment in a Stereophile Magazine interview that the chain of importance in music reproduction was:1:Recordings.2:Speakers.3:ALL Electronics.4:Cables & tweaks...Having had the pleasure of hearing one of his setups at a Consumer Audio Show years ago I would have to agree.

 

[Clarkmc2]

Quote:

The great speaker manufacturer Bill Dundleston(I hope I spelled that correctly)of Legacy Speakers once made a comment in a Stereophile Magazine interview that the chain of importance in music reproduction was:1:Recordings.2:Speakers.3:ALL Electronics.4:Cables & tweaks...Having had the pleasure of hearing one of his setups at a Consumer Audio Show years ago I would have to agree.

Smart man, apparently.

 

[dayamax]

Vibration isolation is the most important factor. I use one of these: http://search.newport.com/?q=*&x2=sku&q2=M-RS4000-510-12 and everything sounds amazing.. 

 
On a more serious note though, I think the recording and headphones/speakers matter most. I can't tell the difference between 320 kbps mp3s and flac, but I still keep everything in FLAC (HDD space is very cheap).

 

[moodyrn]

I still get a kick out of people putting sources as number 1. A 100.00 pair of headphones is going to sound like a 100.00 pair of headphones no matter what the source is. Even if you put a 20,000.00 source on them, they are still going to sound like 100.00 headphones and there's nothing you can do about it. I listened to a pair of hd650s on 5,000.00 source at a meet one time. And you know what they sounded like? They sounded like a pair of....well.......hd650.00s. I'm not saying a quality source isn't important, but it's far from the most important thing. A garbage recording is still going to sound like a garbage recording, and decent headphones is still going to sound like decent headphones no matter what the source is. IMO the two most important factors are the quality of recording, and the headphones used to play back that recording. Then followed by a sufficient amp that would be able to have total control of the drivers, followed by a quality source. This is based on "my" experiences in listening to music, making music, and recording music. Someone else experience may be different.

 

[kboe]

 
 
I would have to disagree with you on the point about the headphones.  My roommates ES7s sounded far better out of the Eastern Electric MiniMax CD Player than they did out of the iPod.  Sure there is a far better amp section in the CD player, but the source was far more of a contributor with the easy to drive Headphones. 

 

[mralexosborn]

Do iBuds or an HD800 sound better out of an iPod?

 

[moodyrn]

I would like to know the answer to that as well.