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

Timbre perceptive experience cannot be reduced to a mathematical additive bunch of frequencies and harmonics only ... Acoustic of small room play a great role more than the new hype electronical gear....

Then if separating fidelity and musicality is not common or possible in the musical world.... In the artificial audio engineering world it is possible ....

To equilibrate then these 2 perspective, the musical and the audio world, acoustic experiment is the golden way....

@douglas_schroder, 
"charles1dad, the performance spectrum is VERY large, and some audiophiles either are only vaguely aware of superb sound at the other end of the spectrum, or simply do not care and declare. It is a sideshow around here watching people argue preference. We see declarations in regard to vinyl/digital, genres of speakers, amp classes, etc."

A good summation. I often think that the vast variety of options offered in High End audio is underappreciated. Each listener has their own unique hearing ability, ear-brain processing of what they hear and then add personal taste and objectives to the mix.

With the incredibly large choices amongst speakers, amplification, source components and then cables to tie it all together the possible end result audio system is as individual as one could imagine. I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity to exploit.

It genuinely does not matter what someone else thinks of another’s choice of components and audio system construction. It only matters what each individual music lover decides which is the best music reproduction and sound that suits them best and sounds most correct.

High End audio is a tremendously rewarding endeavor if one recognises the outstanding opportunity for individualism waiting to be expressed. Depending on the listener in question, Benchmark can get you there, or 300b and all stops between.
Charles

Individual choices so good they will be cannot replace simple acoustic controls for example...

No dac, no amplifier and no speaker can beat the room....Especially if we think with S.Q./price ratio in our perspective...

Saying that high end audio is unknown and inacessible for most of us is not false, it is worst than a lie, it is an half truth claimed by sellers....Or it is a common place evident fact... There is always "better" than what i own....

Of course there exist many better audio system than mine....But the goal is to reach optimal S.Q. not perfect S.Q.....With many low cost embeddings methods controls: mechanical,electrical and acoustical....

The only one who will speak otherwise are snobs or sellers....Or a mix of the two....

@mahgister, 
No argument from me in regard to the influence of the listening room acoustics. But one has to assemble an audio system to place in the room.
1 Room acoustic interactions
2 Addressing vibration/resonance effects on speakers and components. 
3 Acknowledging the importance of good quality AC power for the components. 

All of these are further fundamental factors in assessing the total picture of building and extracting the most from your audio system. 
Charles 

@mahgister,
No argument from me in regard to the influence of the listening room acoustics. But one has to assemble an audio system to place in the room.

I am sure that you know the basic ....Your post speak well for yourself...


But assembling a good system at low cost is relatively easy nowadays , thanks to great engineering progress in audio...

Embedding rightfully a good system, mechanically, electrically and acoustically, is less, way less easy than picking a good system to begin with....It was for me at least....

That is my only point.....And my post goes in the opposite direction of most audio thread where the  solution is and always will be upgrading gear....

Then sometimes basic evidence are forgotten....