Indeed some prefer one over the other, and if a reviewer is prone to being in the "music came to me "group, themn all his reviews of gear will be different than the reviewer who prefers to "be there in the studio during the recording".
Which is more appealing to you now may not be the same in a few years.
I read all the time about aging audiophiles who long for the old sound of days gone by, definetly not the studio control room folks, but the more romantic types.
They don't mind giving up detail for what they percieve as musicality.
Personally I don't get that.
Nope, I want my cake and eat it too.
I want to be transported to the studio and have all the music that was recorded returned to me in full detail with all the musicality intact.
I've heard systems like this. They were quite expensive.
The gear disappeared and just the music filled the room.
The room was full of detail and musicality.
Then I discovered that it wasn't just about throwing bucks at the components like speakers amps and sources.
That liquid detailed sound was also due to some other things going on in the background that weren't as obvious as the exotic speakers and amps were.
It was upgrade power to the gear that made the music sound more pleasurable.
The upgrading done to the already great sounding pricey components made the sound even better.
This I could afford, and I've been quite amazed and pleased that such improvements are available to we folks who would love to swim with the big fishes but just can't afford to.
You can and do get the best of both worlds if you try.
If the recording is a studio multi track type, you'll know it and yet it will still please the ear.
If it's a more natural,less processed recording,you;ll notice it.
You'll be able to live in both worlds and enjoy both.
You won't be confined to a system that's always in your face, or a system that always puts your face in a studio.
It takes time to assemble a system like this, and personally I spent years floating about in this hobby changing amps and speakers, yet never getting the full measure of any of them.
If it wasn't for my good fortune to be able to listen to some very good systems that paid just as much attention to the "things that can't make a differece"as to the things most of us think matter most, then I would still be out there wandering in the desert of audio discontent.
Now when I listen to the music I let it take me wherever it wants to, and I enjoy the ride.
Which is more appealing to you now may not be the same in a few years.
I read all the time about aging audiophiles who long for the old sound of days gone by, definetly not the studio control room folks, but the more romantic types.
They don't mind giving up detail for what they percieve as musicality.
Personally I don't get that.
Nope, I want my cake and eat it too.
I want to be transported to the studio and have all the music that was recorded returned to me in full detail with all the musicality intact.
I've heard systems like this. They were quite expensive.
The gear disappeared and just the music filled the room.
The room was full of detail and musicality.
Then I discovered that it wasn't just about throwing bucks at the components like speakers amps and sources.
That liquid detailed sound was also due to some other things going on in the background that weren't as obvious as the exotic speakers and amps were.
It was upgrade power to the gear that made the music sound more pleasurable.
The upgrading done to the already great sounding pricey components made the sound even better.
This I could afford, and I've been quite amazed and pleased that such improvements are available to we folks who would love to swim with the big fishes but just can't afford to.
You can and do get the best of both worlds if you try.
If the recording is a studio multi track type, you'll know it and yet it will still please the ear.
If it's a more natural,less processed recording,you;ll notice it.
You'll be able to live in both worlds and enjoy both.
You won't be confined to a system that's always in your face, or a system that always puts your face in a studio.
It takes time to assemble a system like this, and personally I spent years floating about in this hobby changing amps and speakers, yet never getting the full measure of any of them.
If it wasn't for my good fortune to be able to listen to some very good systems that paid just as much attention to the "things that can't make a differece"as to the things most of us think matter most, then I would still be out there wandering in the desert of audio discontent.
Now when I listen to the music I let it take me wherever it wants to, and I enjoy the ride.