The problem with absorption panels- it kills the fine details

I'm among the "room sound" fans...there are a few of us (more than a few actually) out there who believe that most rooms generally sound fine with their furnishings providing all the damping you need. Plenty of pro reviewers are in that camp, as rooms, unless you live in a bare shipping container or a dumpster, often have a live-ish reality tone, or at least a tone of their own. Fear not. I use 2 subs to cancel or at least manage low bass standing waves, but my rugs and other crap somehow manage to make my listening room (large-ish living room) sound great.

It's true, a room can be over-damped.  None of us would like to listen in an anechoic chamber.

But think on this.  A performance properly recorded for stereo presentation will contain all the artifacts of that performance in that room.  We should hear it as if we were in that room.  But if we listen to it in our rooms we will hear reflection artifacts of our room on top of those of the performance venue.  It seems to me that will confuse and complicate the performance we are trying to listen to, even distort it.

If we want truth in playback, may I make a plea for a bit more damping, rather than a bit less.

I agree. In a recording or broadcast studio is one thing but in the home setting I think they suck the life out of the music. The same things apples to carpeting in the home. My opinion. 

OP,

How big is your room?  It’s easy to go overboard in a smaller room.

over doing it with acoustic panels can deaden the sound too much.  however unless the panels block the direct radiating sound of your speakers you are not losing detail.  what you are losing is sound reflected by adjacent surfaces mixing with the direct sound, slightly out of phase causing a bit of distortion that sounds like added detail. 

my room has 4 absorption / diffusion panels on the wall behind the speakers.  i left 1 foot gaps between the panels to allow some reflection.  

i have no side or ceiling panels, my speakers are far enough from side walls to avoid side reflections.  i hear plenty of detail and have a smooth response.  

rooms that have panels on every open inch of wall and ceiling space are over doing it.