and some people claim they love coffee, but add so much cream to turn the color pale, and so much sugar to kill the taste altogether. Does this mean they don't really like coffee or don't know how to taste...
I happen to agree with the original poster, but believe a desire for harmoic accuracy depends upon a number of things. For many, distortion is a much sought-after effect to help with some inherent problems with the music:
1)The music doesn't benefit from accuracy (ie. electronically generated music, pop, rock, country, etc).
2)The musicians are not accurate (this includes 99% of recording musicians).
3) The engineering is not accurate (50 ft drums, voice filters, and voice that emanates from the entire soundstage).
4) The listener places a higher priority on other musical features (dynamics, smoothness, listenability, etc).
For acoustically generated music and professional singers and engineers that know their art, accurate music reproduction is a must. However, not everyone likes this music.
If I liked jazz, my rig would probably be quite different. Most of those performances are from the 50s, have a rawness about their sound, and don't always benefit at the hands of the engineer. It makes sense in these situations to add a little sugar to the cup. You lose some of the emotional content and the musical context, but you gain listenability.
I happen to agree with the original poster, but believe a desire for harmoic accuracy depends upon a number of things. For many, distortion is a much sought-after effect to help with some inherent problems with the music:
1)The music doesn't benefit from accuracy (ie. electronically generated music, pop, rock, country, etc).
2)The musicians are not accurate (this includes 99% of recording musicians).
3) The engineering is not accurate (50 ft drums, voice filters, and voice that emanates from the entire soundstage).
4) The listener places a higher priority on other musical features (dynamics, smoothness, listenability, etc).
For acoustically generated music and professional singers and engineers that know their art, accurate music reproduction is a must. However, not everyone likes this music.
If I liked jazz, my rig would probably be quite different. Most of those performances are from the 50s, have a rawness about their sound, and don't always benefit at the hands of the engineer. It makes sense in these situations to add a little sugar to the cup. You lose some of the emotional content and the musical context, but you gain listenability.