First of all, I just want to say that music is music. If it sounds good it sounds good. I play the saxophone. During my final highschool concert, I had a long solo so I played some multiphonics and fiddled around in the altissimo register. Saxophonists in the lower grade loved it cause they thought it was hip and cool. My girlfriend and her friend that I invited to the concert covered their ears and thought "what the hell was that?"
Naturally I've spent a lot of time sitting in front of trumpets and trombones. When they're playing ballads they absolutely sound wonderful! Nice and warm. When they're blasting away? It was fatiguing. Was it live? Yes. Was it amplified? No. But damn I wanted to cover my ears.
I also play the flute so I've spent quite a bit of time sitting next (to the right even!) to a piccolo. Like trumpets at full blast in the upper octaves, it's going to pierce your ears. It doesn't matter if it's natural sounding.
The Kharmas are great speakers. I've heard them and I own a pair. They are amazing speakers indeed. I have never heard the Merlins but do have a friend who owns a pair and he has only good things to say about the Merlins. I also trust a lot of people when it comes to audio. I trust Jtinn's ears. I very much like the fact that he'll give you his honest opinion. He'll be straight with you and some people like that and some people don't. For me, I love Jonathan and I consider him a friend even though I have never met him. I just know that he'll try his best to help me whenever I need it.
Back to the original post. I think you can't go wrong with the Kharmas. My preference for listening to trios besides the music is the little things that each musican does. Resolution and detail thus becomes pretty critical in adding that last bit of enjoyment. The Kharmas will give you the resolution you need. The drum kit and cymbals just sounds so real.
