Two Type of sound and listener preference are there more?


In our thirty years of professional audio system design and setup, we keep on running into two distinctly different types of sound and listeners.

Type One: Detail, clarity, soundstage, the high resolution/accuracy camp. People who fall into this camp are trying to reproduce the absolute sound and use live music as their guide.

Type Two: Musicality camp, who favors tone and listenability over the high resolution camp. Dynamics, spl capabilty, soundstaging are less important. The ability for a system to sound real is less important than the overall sound reproduced "sounds good."

Are there more then this as two distincly different camps?

We favor the real is good and not real is not good philosophy.

Some people who talk about Musicaility complain when a sytem sounds bright with bright music.

In our viewpoint if for example you go to a Wedding with a Live band full of brass instruments like horns, trumpts etc it hurts your ears, shouldn’t you want your system to sound like a mirror of what is really there? Isn’t the idea to bring you back to the recording itself?

Please discuss, you can cite examples of products or systems but keep to the topic of sound and nothing else.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
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I think I completely agree with Prof. When some of you go off on this "musicality" and "listenability" jazz I just shake my head. I love my music. I want a system that allows me to listen as deeply into the music as my senses will allow. If something is intended to make me shrink back in my chair, that stereo better assault me. The LAST thing it should be is "listenable" and "musical". I don't even want to think those words with the sounds of doom and dread drenching me. If the music would be uncomfortable for me to endure being in the studio or before the stage, it should be uncomfortable in my room. I don't weigh my hearing into the equation. 
This has been a stunning display of transparent nonsense.  It boils down to a sales pitch similar to "all the cool kids are smoking lucky strikes, you should too."  We have right-brained vs. left-brained and musical vs. amusical.  People have to describe sound how he wants it described.  good grief.  

I've noticed that small manufacturers are frequently arbitrary and a bit nutty.  This is no exception.  It doesn't mean their products are bad but it's funny to find out where they're coming from. 
These are all just words. We all have our own ideas of what these words mean. If I say the word house we have different pictures of a house in our minds. If I say the word undistirted we all have a different idea what that means, or the word warm, or the word presence. Or musicality. They are very general even vague terms. Your idea of what great HiFi sound can only be as good as the best system you ever heard. Pop quiz: where does one go to hear a really good system?
This has been a stunning display of transparent nonsense. It boils down to a sales pitch similar to "all the cool kids are smoking lucky strikes, you should too." We have right-brained vs. left-brained and musical vs. amusical. People have to describe sound how he wants it described. good grief.

This is commentary on commentary.

How would you make sense of the different types of listeners? 
To hear a great system, I get off of my computer chair and walk 15 feet to my left. It sounds great.