Musical Speakers - If you like that sort of thing.

At the most basic level, it is a simple tap test; I've auditioned many a speaker where I could hear the artist's take a breath in and guess the length of the guitarist's nails, but was unmoved. The same music through a different speaker would make me tap my foot and nod my head saying, "yeah." That's musicality to me.

It is certainly possible to have both resolution and musicality (for lack of a better way of describing that which makes your foot start to tappin'). They are not necessarily exclusive one each other.

let me confuse the issue somewhat if i may. after many years of upgrading and changing out one piece of equipment for another, i finally got a pair of B&W 801s3
speakers, at one time considered the "audio end of the road" and my dream come true. they had excellent DEEP bass, superbly fast and transparent midrange, and good (if not great) tweeter, plus a newly simplified crossover (series-3). i loved them to death, and i still do.
but several years later opportunity knocked for me to obtain a (demo) pair of Eggleston Andra-1's, which had (still has) one of the best tweeters ever made. when they were finally delivered and set-up in MY living room, it took all of 5 minutes for me to wonder how i could have waited so long to get them- they were so much more integrated than the 801's, which spoke with 3 different voices instead of one. the dynaudio tweeter was a total revelation- sweet and smooth but still extended.
the bass was tighter, reproduction of piano was on a whole other level, etc. ad infinitum.
So, which speaker was more musical/more accurate? they were BOTH highly musical speakers, but the Egglestons were more of everything (and three times more expensive). later i upgraded them to Andra-2's, and they surprised and elated me all over again.
both speakers demanded great up-stream components and good recordings. But considering perhaps the alternatives- like some (cheap) boomy speakers obtained from "best buy" that gloss over bad recordings, or even expensive speakers like the Wilson W/P-5's that were known to be analytical sounding in spite of being resolving and accurate, I know which speakers I prefer. The only problem is that it took ME 20-some odd years to be able to save up the money to get them.

I agree with Duke, and I will add that I think it is all an illusion, one big musical lie.
Some lies are better than other lies.

"She has an illusion, and you have reality. May your way be as pleasant. "

--"The Keeper" from the original Star Trek pilot episode 'The Cage"

The choice between accuracy and musicality is one that every audiophile faces sooner or later. Although I agree with Jax2 that accuracy and musicality are not NECESSSARILY mutually exclusive, in reality, one is often achieved at the expense of the other. When that happens, we have to choose between them. My impression of the audiophiles on A'gon is that, when cornered, the majority of them would choose musicality over accuracy. Of course, I could be wrong about that.

As Marty pointed out, the choice between accuracy and musicality is an example of the choice between truth and beauty. To some, that may seem an excessively philosophical way of putting it. But that is exactly what is at issue...

Accuracy might be thought of as the objective correspondence of the musical information presented at the ear during playback to the musical information either (1) presented at the microphone during recording, or (2) represented on the software. Either way, accuracy is the correspondence of a representation to reality. And that is what truth is.

Musicality might be thought of as a subjective experience in which musical playback evokes the perceptions and feelings associated with real music. Those perceptions and feelings, while diverse, have an element in common: the pleasure derived from form and content. And that is what beauty is.

So the choice between accuracy and musicality is a version of the choice between truth and beauty. In some contexts, there are moral considerations when choosing between truth and beauty. In a courtroom, for example. But in an audio system, when confronted with the choice between truth and beauty, there is no right or wrong. There is only preference.

Having said that, the changes to my system that I have been the most rewarded by are the ones where accuracy and musicality BOTH improved as a result of the a single change. In other words, when I didn’t have to choose between truth and beauty.