It’s possible to strike a balance between resolving and forgiving. It just takes time and effort in matching components, cables, room acoustics. I like an accurate but not analytical system. I want to be able to listen and enjoy a crappy recording of a great performance such as Mahler’s 5th conducted by Bruno Walter (1947) and not have to start looking for a modern better recorded but lesser performance version of it. And when I’m done listening to it, I can play Diana Krall and be amazed by the recording quality and the resolving power of my system.
And by the way…everything will color the sound - components, cables, room. Don’t chase neutrality - it doesn’t exist.
Let the best be your guide
All of us have had to come to grips with bad sounding recordings. They can be disabling and make you question your whole system. The trick is to accept them for what they are and not to generalize. I try to listen for the music and skim over the imperfections. When confronted with a clinker, to save my sanity, I play a recording i know to be superior sounding. That restores my faith in the system and brings me back to reality.