In literature, they speak of the willing suspension of disbelief. When reading the Master and Commander series of novels by Patrick O'Brian, I am never actually on the deck of a ship, or in the streets of a Mediterranean town, but it is necessary, for my enjoyment, that I feel that I am, and I willingly give in to the illusion.
My aim with hifi, even at my modest levels of expenditure, has always been to be able to imagine that I am in a concert hall, or that the guy playing the acoustic guitar is actually sitting somewhere between my speakers. It is a fragile illusion, often not achieved, and easily broken.
There are ways in which dreams and flights of imagination are greatly superior to the real thing. They seldom, for instance, include the downside. Dreaming of a beautiful woman seldom includes the work and difficulties involved in going out and meeting her and bringing your dream to actuality, let alone later tiffs about who does the washing up (it begins when you sink in his arms, and ends with your arms in his sink).
I infinitely prefer live music. Living close to the epicentre of the music I love, Chennai and carnatic music, (and also having a great appreciation of quietness at home!) I probably go to live concerts at least as often as I turn on the hifi. However, it is considerably more hassle: first I have to travel some way, then I am subject to the audience around me, who are seldom quite and well-behaved. Last, but far from least in this hifi forum, I have to listen to voices and acoustic instruments via a PA system which is usually both imperfect and badly adjusted. A CD of the same artists, played at home, would be much easier on the ears.
We will never actually recreate the concert experience in our living rooms, even if we add the visual aspects with home theatre --- but we will always try, and that is part of the fun.
Dried apricots are an entirely different experience to fresh, but are, none-the-less, delicious.
