A double edged sword

Imaging is synonymous with precision, I don't think it many will disagree. The spookiness of imaging is intoxicating, it is quietly changing the way we listen to music, perhaps the way we see music will be more appropriate. This is a quiet double-edged sword.

There is no denying that bookshelf loudspeakers beat big loudspeakers in this regard. On the downside, you will sense the missing textural properties, the necessary drive for the listening pleasure especially on pops and rock. 

Hence, the highs centric is the trending these days. It leads us to an analytical presentation and projects higher fidelity. Higher fidelity means atasness. Anything less spectacular in this regard will not be well received. This is a real problem with many audio enthusiasts, their perceptions derived from their cognitive beliefs. It is fascinating to learn from a professor that how people perceive/listen from their expectation. In audio, our sight has already predetermined the outcome that deriving from our past experiences and experimentation. What is your first thought seeing a plate of blue rice aka nasi kerabu? So, our mind has already predetermined before our other senses. It's a norm for Kelantanese, weird for non-Kelantanese.

This is a bad thing as we are at risk of missing the mark. To dig further, how good is your expectation? Does it build upon a solid foundation or personal subjectivity or past experience? The engineers can build speakers through measurements, the end product is acoustic energy. Coming from the mouth of an audio DIYer, it is easy to draw a schematic that works but it takes months to tune it right. Mathematically, input equals to output minus losses. The objective here is optimum output, for instance lower driver mechanical losses and inert enclosure. Where is the musicality? Is musicality itself is a subjective?