What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'?

By the way immatthewj i succeed two times to create a satisfying audio system in two different rooms ... And with an headphone TOP system ...

How?

No sorry it was not guided by my mere taste for a branded name piece of marketing gear ...

"musical" is not merely about my taste about sound or about my HEARING as individual at some point in time ... Why ?

Because my hearing experience has changed a lot when i experimented and studied acoustics in my dedicated room ... My taste for and about sound now are no more the same as 10 years ago ...i learned how to create the sound on all new levels and aspects unknown to me before ...This is why ...

Even my headphones and speakers modifications were not guided by my mere "taste" but by my learning about acoustic concept as Helmholtz resonators among other concepts or immersiveness or timbre , and the way to modify them in a system/room ..

Then "musical" as harmonious and euphonic, was a result of my LEARNING JOURNEY not from my taste for the gear pieces of some company ...

We must learn how to hear and listen , sorry for your innate taste, mine had been put in an evolutive journey by studying ...

By the way dont come back here saying that i claim that all pieces of gear are the same nevermind their price ... I perfectly know why my actual low cost speakers cannot be satisfying as could be a High end maximal acoustic satisfaction with speakers like my past TOP Tannoy dual concentric which were on another level Then my actual low cost speakers can only be a minimal acoustic satisfaction ... The problem is i never really experience my Tannoy at their real potential BECAUSE i was ignorant of acoustics and i never used them the right way for 40 years , nevermind my taste here .....Do you get it ?

In "musical" perception , Taste there is, but it is not  so much about taste but about TRAINED knowledge in music as in acoustics ...

And even if a piece of well chosen gear matter for sure ( i just changed for a better cable ) the essential of an experience descriptible as "musical" is related to hundred of parameters , electrical, mechanical and acoustical one , NOT mere TASTE ...Sorry you must STUDY ...gear bragging taste is not enough ......

The Merriam define "musical" as harmonious and euphonic experience as HISTORY taught it because thousand of years of successive musicians and acoustician define the territory with experiment and knowledge of what is "musical" experience in music history as in acoustics architecture and applications

You obviously took different history courses than I did.

I did not wrote history... 😊

Before the Edison and Charles Cros gramophon invention at the same year, euphony and harmonious was refering to the sound of music well played or sang in well realized acoustic architecture location ...

This adjectives then refer , to acoustics parameters in some location with very well trained musicians...

The word "musical" as an adjective to qualify a sound perception as harmonious and euphonic refer as well to acoustic as music itself together and this adjective predate Edison invention and then is older than any gear system ...

Then when we qualify the sound impression of any pieces of gear for specific trained ears in some acoustic room "musical" it refer to an acoustic impression and a musical impression together when the gear piece under test listening do not impede the awaiting results pertaining to what is an harmonious and euphonic perception in some specific acoustic conditions for the AVERAGE human ears ...

Many speakers are tested by the designer in anechoic room to verify their potential musicality by testing their frequencies response but it can be done in normal room with the necessary equipment ...Anyway acoustics parameters of the room must be known.... Any designer know that speakers /room will give an impression different if we change the room materials acoustic content, geometry, topology and dimensions etc ...

Then acoustics parameters knowledge are important for the definition of a "musically" subjective well accepted experience for most human subjects...

The gear choice matter for sure ... I just bought a tube preamplifier for my active speakers and the improvement is amazing... But no gear change can repair or compensate acoustics, in reverse no acoustic change will compensate or redeem a bad gear choice...

When our gear synergy and choices are done , no upgrade of a single piece of gear will compare to room acoustic parameters well done ... The only exception will be going from a very bad cheap piece of gear to a top very high cost one as for speakers choice ... No room acoustics can redeem a bad speaker or very low cost one compared to a TOP one... In reverse TOP speakers in a living room, even a good room , will not sound as the same speakers in a carefully dedicated room ... There is a difference between any speakers at any price giving his minimal working sound quality and the same speakers giving his maximal sound quality... The difference will be room dependant generally more than from change of comparable amplifiers choices or dac choices near the same price bracket ...

Acoustics is the more underestimated factor ... But even cables matter, i just change one of mine from cheap to better .. 😊

the most important factors when the gear choice and minimal synergy is reached are the electrical noise floor embeddings controls, the mechanical vibration/resionance controls and the essential acoustic parameters controls...Without these three controls under your hand , any upgrade will be premature and perhaps useless...

The Merriam define "musical" as harmonious and euphonic experience as HISTORY taught it because thousand of years of successive musicians and acoustician define the territory with experiment and knowledge of what is "musical" experience in music history as in acoustics architecture and applications

You obviously took different history courses than I did.

I guess opinion and taste might enter into it?

No accounting for taste.

As far as what makes equipment sound musical, that is very predictable, For those who do not understand engineering, their opinion will matter (to them), but that won't change how equipment behaves...

No accounting for taste.

As far as what makes equipment sound musical, that is very predictable, For those who do not understand engineering, their opinion will matter (to them), but that won't change how equipment behaves...

Sure,  @atmasphere  , but what is meant by "more musical"?