Fidelity vs. Musicality...........Is there a tug of War?

I prefer an amp that adds 5% 2nd order harmonics over one which adds 0.01% 5th order harmonics.

I prefer amplifier that does not add any distortion. My Benchmark AHB2 has THD=0.00011% (-119dB, inaudible). Any distortion is coloring sound (reducing clarity).

One might prefer to look at the paintings thru yellow glasses. There is nothing wrong with it, but he doesn't see what artist painted.

@kijanki 

"One might prefer to look at the paintings thru yellow glasses"

Colours would be visible fundamental wavelengths/frequencies.  Not harmonics of the fundamental.

We seem to have another undefined word - "clarity".

Fidelity literally means faithfulness to something. If we're talking about music reproduction, true fidelity will get you musicality. 

All the best,
Nonoise

Colours would be visible fundamental wavelengths/frequencies. Not harmonics of the fundamental.

We’re not talking about harmonics in the recorded music, but harmonics added where they did not exist at all. Adding harmonics to piano, that are different than piano overtones, is distorting piano sound (creating beats). You might like it, but it is distorted sound with reduced clarity. Trying to cover bright metal dome tweeter with warm sounding gear is adding further reduction in clarity. Now, we have both odd and even harmonics added, when replacing tweeter (or speakers) seems to be the better choice, at least to me.

@kijanki:  

"One might prefer to look at the paintings thru yellow glasses. There is nothing wrong with it, but he doesn't see what artist painted".

Yes... BUT    we are not robots with identical identical sound perception software installed!  We each hear sound differently and our brains interpret it differently. 

And there's a further difference. Whereas, perception of visual art is a direct process-- from canvas to eye to brain, in audio, the process has more intermediate steps (recording/mixing and conveyance of the music to our ears via circuits and speakers). 

Is it not true that these added steps color/distort the accuracy of the original "painting ?

You can have the more accurate system in the world and you are still hearing what pleased the ears of the engineer/producer in the studio-- your experience is ultimately subject to the coloring/distortion associated with their taste and this is associated with their preferences in mics, monitors, etc. 

Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see how looking at a painting and listening to a recording are analogous. 

It seems to me that for the analogy to hold up, we'd have to compare viewing a painting in a gallery to hearing music in a concert hall.