To me, one of the most important things in music reproduction is getting the tonal balance or timbre of instruments correct. Based on my experience in listening to live vs. reproduced symphonic music, the large majority of high end systems that I've heard tend to make instruments sound too bright or edgy and they don't seem to capture the "body" of live music.
In reproduced sound, it's worst for massed violins which, for me, is the acid test for music systems. In general, tubes (Audio Research, in particular) seem to do it better than solid state. Digital playback seems to have a harder time getting it right than analog systems, although the newer generations of digital equipment (like the Reference CD9) are getting close to analog sound.
Many of the 24-bit HD recordings are quite good and, as a rule, are more natural sounding than Red Book CD's. However, there are some very good CD's out there. In particular, I find CD's on the Chandos label, particularly those that are recorded and mastered in the 24-bit format, to be quite good.
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