I think there are 2 generally different answers to this question. There is one camp that focuses on sound, that is the artifacts of the recording and another camp that wants to hear music as they might hear it live.
To enjoy music without focusing on the sound, the timbre and tonal balance has to be right first and foremost. If this isn't right, things like imaging, soundstaging will not hold your interest in the long run. To me it is the ONLY reason to pay this kind of money in the first place. What's the point if this isn't the first and most important goal? I agree with Sam, that a system should be able to play all music without one focusing on the quality of the recording to gain enjoyment. Most of my recordings are not audiophile so I want to enjoy the music without focusing on how it sounds. I also strongly believe there are differences between what we perceive as detail as opposed to true resolution. Resolution resolves all the information on a recording without bringing attention to any one thing. Hearing a detail that you haven't heard before can end up being an unnatural emphasis that isn't real. You can be wowed initially only to end up focusing on that aspect which deters from enjoying the music. Balancing a high resolution system with complementary components is the part that takes patience and time and can get you to where you want to go.
So the answer is it is a matter of priorities but I'm in the same camp as Nrchy, Metralla, Megasam and Onhwy61.
To enjoy music without focusing on the sound, the timbre and tonal balance has to be right first and foremost. If this isn't right, things like imaging, soundstaging will not hold your interest in the long run. To me it is the ONLY reason to pay this kind of money in the first place. What's the point if this isn't the first and most important goal? I agree with Sam, that a system should be able to play all music without one focusing on the quality of the recording to gain enjoyment. Most of my recordings are not audiophile so I want to enjoy the music without focusing on how it sounds. I also strongly believe there are differences between what we perceive as detail as opposed to true resolution. Resolution resolves all the information on a recording without bringing attention to any one thing. Hearing a detail that you haven't heard before can end up being an unnatural emphasis that isn't real. You can be wowed initially only to end up focusing on that aspect which deters from enjoying the music. Balancing a high resolution system with complementary components is the part that takes patience and time and can get you to where you want to go.
So the answer is it is a matter of priorities but I'm in the same camp as Nrchy, Metralla, Megasam and Onhwy61.