musicality vs. accuracy

In my book, musicality and accuracy are two sides of the same coin. If a piece of audio gear is "accurate" by my definition that means it renders instruments/voices as they are - i.e. musically. The concepts cannot - should not - be divorced. Of course people can like something because it invokes an emotional response to the music. In such cases, people may assign the adjective "musical" to that experience. But if it ain't accurate, it ain't musical in my mind. My standard for judging accuaracy/musicality is unamplified music recorded in a natural acoustic. You can't make an accuracy judgement on other types of recorded music (which, BTW, I also listen too and enjoy).

The difference between a great performance and a mediocre one is passion. Both could sound equally accurate, but the one with feeling or energy or ok, call it musicality, will always get the nod from me. Seeking musicality makes comparing components easier too. I couldn't care less where the suck-outs or exaggerations are, if the musical message comes across more fully. I'm sure there's a whole lot of a'philes seeking to achieve some kind of exact replica of the studio or live performance. My gut tells me these people hear mostly with their ears and less so with their hearts. C'est la vie, whatever turns you on.

What ever is your preference is the way to go. I lean toward musicality as long as the timber of instruments sounds correct to my ear. I have been unable to get them all to sound right in a modest system so I concetrate on the ones that are more important to me such as piano, strings, voice (both M & F), cymbals and light percussives. I have not been able to get larger drums to do the trick and brass is just OK. It is all a matter (for me) of taste, balance, budget and how far I am willing to go in regard to room acoustics (noy very far other than speaker placement). I do not enjoy listening to microscopic flaws in my source material and prefer that they remain hidden.