For the most part, Robert Greene has it right, in my experience. In many cases, it is impossible to make the recorded sound like you'd hear it in a live performance, because a seat in the audience seat has a much more distant perspective than a recording microphone.
Air is a great filter of high frequencies, and the more air between you and the instruments, the greater the filtering effect. If you are ever present with the opportunity, it is instructive to listen to some of your favorite instruments from 1~2 meters away and note how different that sound is from what you are accustomed to hearing from an audience seat.
Also keep in mind that many instruments change sound depending on the angle that you listen from. If you listen to a violin from above (which is how many orchestral microphones are placed), it will be clearly more aggressive than what you will hear if you are level with it or below.
IOW, at some level a high-performance system should sound "too detailed" compared to what you'd hear live, because in many cases that's exactly what the microphone hears. If you could experience a concert from the location of the recording microphone (which I have done), you'd probably also think that the sound was "too detailed". OTOH, if a recording was made with the microphones located within the audience seating, the playback should sound like you'd typically hear live.
However, unless you know how the microphones were placed for a given recording, it isn't possible to state with conviction what the playback should sound like.
OTOH, many playback electronics produce distortions which are alien to the sound of live acoustic instruments, regardless of listening distance or angle. My experience has been that the presence of these distortions (particularly if IMD or non-harmonic distortions are involved) are a frequent reason why many systems are regarded as being "too detailed." Conversely, if these electronic distortions can be eliminated or reduced, in most cases you will find that you can tolerate a much higher level of detail and resolution.
My experience has been that an audio system with honest high resolution and low levels of IMD and non-harmonic distortion is tolerant of a much wider range of recordings and music styles than otherwise. If your system is overly picky of recordings, with comparatively few sounding acceptable on it, it is usually a sign that not all is well.
hth
Air is a great filter of high frequencies, and the more air between you and the instruments, the greater the filtering effect. If you are ever present with the opportunity, it is instructive to listen to some of your favorite instruments from 1~2 meters away and note how different that sound is from what you are accustomed to hearing from an audience seat.
Also keep in mind that many instruments change sound depending on the angle that you listen from. If you listen to a violin from above (which is how many orchestral microphones are placed), it will be clearly more aggressive than what you will hear if you are level with it or below.
IOW, at some level a high-performance system should sound "too detailed" compared to what you'd hear live, because in many cases that's exactly what the microphone hears. If you could experience a concert from the location of the recording microphone (which I have done), you'd probably also think that the sound was "too detailed". OTOH, if a recording was made with the microphones located within the audience seating, the playback should sound like you'd typically hear live.
However, unless you know how the microphones were placed for a given recording, it isn't possible to state with conviction what the playback should sound like.
OTOH, many playback electronics produce distortions which are alien to the sound of live acoustic instruments, regardless of listening distance or angle. My experience has been that the presence of these distortions (particularly if IMD or non-harmonic distortions are involved) are a frequent reason why many systems are regarded as being "too detailed." Conversely, if these electronic distortions can be eliminated or reduced, in most cases you will find that you can tolerate a much higher level of detail and resolution.
My experience has been that an audio system with honest high resolution and low levels of IMD and non-harmonic distortion is tolerant of a much wider range of recordings and music styles than otherwise. If your system is overly picky of recordings, with comparatively few sounding acceptable on it, it is usually a sign that not all is well.
hth