I tend to think, that such reservations have to do
with the way, music is
made fit for the market. If a recording is really "HiFi" in the sense of the
word, it does not only spoil the expectations of most listeners, it is hard
to reproduce with average equipment also. Thus such recordings are no
products that can be sold to everybody easily.
Indeed, 'video' and 'photo-graphs' are also utterly inadequate as
compared to the original experience and should be shunned. Indeed,
the printed word itself is but a pale shadow of the original unspoken
idea.
Personally I find life is far richer with all of the above. I never
fail to be impressed at the lengths snobbery goes toward rationalizing
itself (rhetorical comment, not actually aimed at you Hartmut).
On a lighter note:
Some younger drummers and guitar-players I recorded
have made a long
face when they heard their playing for the first time reproduced by my
nearfield-monitors. They simply where disappointed, that my 8"-Speakers
did not sound "the same as powerful" as their 4x12"-stack or their
24"
bass-drum. Its physics -- baby ;-)
Hmph, you should easily be able to get more wattage out of a proper
driver than a bass drum. That's engineering, Sir.
(IMHBCO, it's generally not the inadequacy of the recording but the
fact that the recoding does not bundle along the original context of
the performance. The context carries the greater power).
Monty