This is a loaded question where daggers will probably come out flying.
But I would say the following:
o That it is more possible today than ever before to come close to a live performance.
o Indistinguishable? Doubt it. Better than? Perhaps in some ways.
o Is it possible to make one's system sound like a live performance?
In theory, yes. But, aside from incorporating the right combination of equipment and room, I believe there are two big secrets to getting closer to a live performance than ever before:
1. The AC needs to clean, isolated, noise-free, and there needs to be an abundance of it on hand to be available for a near-perfect high-current amplifier that is an absolute requirement for those grandiose dynamic passages.
2. Vibration and resonance control and the proper transfer thereof.
These last two items have as much to do with depth, layering, imaging, decay, and transparency as they have to do with macro-dynamics.
-IMO
But I would say the following:
o That it is more possible today than ever before to come close to a live performance.
o Indistinguishable? Doubt it. Better than? Perhaps in some ways.
o Is it possible to make one's system sound like a live performance?
In theory, yes. But, aside from incorporating the right combination of equipment and room, I believe there are two big secrets to getting closer to a live performance than ever before:
1. The AC needs to clean, isolated, noise-free, and there needs to be an abundance of it on hand to be available for a near-perfect high-current amplifier that is an absolute requirement for those grandiose dynamic passages.
2. Vibration and resonance control and the proper transfer thereof.
These last two items have as much to do with depth, layering, imaging, decay, and transparency as they have to do with macro-dynamics.
-IMO