What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

This, from Nonoise, has been my experience as well:

It only takes a few bad recordings to make me think that something was overlooked, wrong or missed but when a great recording is used, I'm reassured I made the right choice. There is some lessening of that joy factor when my system can't make every recording sound wonderful but it's only temporary since I also realize that they're just lousy recordings.

You are suppose to hear noise out of two speakers at once. It should be definable as to rock, country, rap, jazz, ect. It should make you hear not the music but the individuals notes played, hear people breathing in the audience, bugs flying around, ect. It should cause you to forget what cut is being played and make you start complaining about the way it was recorded. Also it is suppose to sound like you got to replace something in your set-up. Cables, amp, speakers, just something or you don't have a high posterior steroe.

I couldn't have said it better: ( http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/the-sound-of-one-hand-clapping/ ) If this is/was a repeat, sorry!

So, we hear things differently despite similar backgrounds, tastes, interests and all of this with the same appreciation, similar levels of equipment, and a similar quest for the best, be it through better recordings or equipment upgrades.

Yet, for all the similarities, we hear differently due to tastes, interests, equipment and a longing for something better be it through a recording or equipment upgrade.

Makes sense to me. :-)

All the best,
Nonoise

Here's another thing I've noticed that bears on the OP's question... When things take a leap forward in SQ in my system or one that I'm very familiar with, one of the things I often hear is a subjective "slowing" of the music.

I don't mean the kind of slowing that's associated with slow bass or bad PRaT. The "slowing" I'm talking about is a pleasing effect, though admittedly it's a difficult one to describe.

It's almost as if the recording has been LITERALLY slowed down, except of course there's no pitch shift. It's like the music is somehow more "organized," which I experience as slower.

Dunno. Maybe that's an idiosyncratic experience.

Bryon