What sounds more musical than audionote equipment

I am with you Luke, but part of what you are describing, at least to me, is a great musical performance in and of itself. In other words, a fabulously 'musical' system in your terms will not convert an otherwise uninspired performance into something that will set your toes to wiggling- on the other hand, the emotional impact of a well turned musical phrase, or spot-on drum beat, can move me even over a sucky system. Yet, I acknowledge that some systems get you closer to this than others. Just not sure it can be used as a bright line test to separate the great from the not so great in hi-fi. For example, my horn system makes even not so great recordings much more involving- yep, I can hear into the performance in a way that puts me in touch with what's happening on the stage. Does that make my horn system, overall, more 'musical' than the Quad-based system? The Quad system is far more 'coherent,' ie of a piece, but it is not lively sounding and mediocre records sound, well, mediocre. Is the Quad system truer to life or less musical for this reason?
I'm not claiming that what you realize doesn't exist, or isn't important- just not sure its a useful way to discriminate among components. (Not that I have a better way). And, the virtue of your approach is that your focus is on the music, rather than on the analytical aspects of its reproduction. Best.

Whart, If I may take the liberty of trying to get Audiojoy4's point across of AN versus the others, at the risk of sounding like Bill Clinton, "Close, but no cigar."

This may again sound arrogant, but it is the truth.

Uh-huh.

it only describes the ability of a hifi system to accurately convey the messages of the musical piece as it was seen by the musicians. VERY VERY FEW pieces of hifi have ever managed this in all my years of experience.

It is not possible, nor will it ever be, to combine a piece of pressed plastic, the mixing and mastering process, an arbitrary configuration of components & cables, the passage of time, the evolution of your perspective, etc. etc. etc. and replicate the initial recording process. Most recordings are made one track at a time, so at the outset any implication that the audio system in your home is mirroring the source is farcical. Does watching the opening (often-called "realistic") scene from "Saving Private Ryan" in your home make you somehow, magically present to the landing at Normandy? Please!

The source and its amalgamations are not even close to being equivalent entities. And your truths are just that: YOUR truths. Sorry, but as great as Audio Note equipment is--and I happen to be a big fan of AN--all of the other brands are not going to disappear once everyone discovers the delusional paths upon which they've been traveling. Nor do the myriad of other brands exist as false prophets obscuring the ultimate path of truth. That's just plain silly.

When you finally descend from the mountain, enjoy the music.

Hi Whart,
the only answer I can give you is that if the audio note equipment sounds very muscial due to accurate technical replication of the music then it must also follow that it must have also got right all the other technical aspects.By this I mean dynamics, sound staging etc etc which provide that exciting grab out and touch feeling.

I have no affiliation with the audio note dealers or companies I am just trying to divulge my experiences that have so much enhanced my enjoyment and understanding of hifi.

As evidence for the above statement here is a list of my last two systems which I found not on par with my present system both musically as well as with the 'presence startle factor'.

Avantgarde duo, hovland hp100,clearaudio reference,graham arm,sme 20, canary ca339 monoblocks,RM music 200, jadis ja 80, bent audio transformer preamplifier, audio physic avanti,etc etc Might I add that the jadis was the closest musically.

Luke- I didn't take your observations as ones soley attributable to AN equipment and didn't read your question as an equipment 'challenge' by brand- rather, I thought you were making a more general statement about what separates the 'best' reproduced music from the rest. Nor was I suggesting that any particular brand, or combination of brands, would achieve audio nirvana. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that if you asked alot of musicians what they 'intended' by a performance, they would look at you with a furrowed brow. (I'm not talking the intellectual stuff of music, but instead the soul of it, as you are- ever hang out with musicians? :)) Meantime, Trelja, I'm not sure what I
"missed," unless it was your joke- I wasn't playing one-up-manship on equipment or anything else. Just trying to understand what Luke's litmus 'test' for an absolute really means in practice.