What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

I was wondering myself and the closest to "nothing" I found in recording studio rooms with proper speaker placement and proper studio monitorring equipment.

Very good.

It sounds amazing. Makes you cry, makes you smile. It takes you away from where you just were and brings you somewhere else.

Should it sound like live music? If so, then your initial impression of a system would count for a lot, I would think. When you attend an audio show and go into a room for the first time, does it sound like something approximating the real thing or nothing like that at all? If the latter, can it really be any good?

I ask myself this all the time. And I wonder about the experience of a system or component that "draws you into the music, makes the emotional connection." I've had that experience as I'm sure we all have, but what relationship does it have to sounding like live music?

Doesn't matter. As long as it sounds very good, say well above average, to the guy or gal who paid and is listening, it is high end to me.

I suppose it is also high end if it costs way above average as well, but that alone does not assure that it sounds way above average as well, so cost alone does not mean it sounds like high end which is what the OP is asking.