Highest detail cartridges

"Is "closer to the music" a more accurate reproduction of what is in the groove or a "romantic" rewrite?"

If the romance of the original performance is conveyed in the recording, accurate reproduction of the groove is more than sufficient.

If it isn’t, I have no issue with restoring it, if I can.

@bimasta - How can you tell?  Maybe it is just a mediocre performance.  I prefer accuracy over distortion.

@viridian I listen to 99%+ classical music.  Instrument timbre can expose the accuracy of the recording.  And I've been a part of blind listening sessions that used two components that were identical except for a 3 millibel difference in frequency response.  The same component could be consistently identified during the tests.  

I prefer components with a vanishingly low amount of distortion to any distortion including even order distortion.  It is why I use one particular electronics manufacturer.