Nothing in my post was meant to discount anything from the experience of seeing a live orchestra. I could just as easily make a counter-argument that a live orchestra is the ideal way to listen to classical, if I wanted to.
But to counter your argument, the sound of any live orchestra is completely dependent on both the acoustics of a concert hall, and on the seat location, which means that unless you pay for the best seats in the house, the acoustics will more than likely be far from ideal. Listening to a recording at home can pretty much equalize that factor. I've been to lots of classical concerts myself, in which my seat location essentially sucked because it was too far away, and it took away from my enjoyment of the music's sound (not loud enough, lack of treble due to distance, etc).
And no offense but I have to laugh at your "
intangible, very real, very honest, very organic, very beautiful presence" comment. I actually got exactly that from my Stax OII and BHSE on various recordings, and never got that feeling from any other headphones. The best-amped LCD-2 that I had (out of a B22) wasn't even remotely close. The OII/BHSE made classical music (and other genres) literally sound
real. If I had to pick between a classical CD on the OII/BHSE and going to a concert for the "sound quality" alone, I'd go with the CD. The only reason I'd pick a concert would be to see a famous musician on tour, or if the work being performed was a particular favorite of mine, or if the orchestra was an especially good one. Having heard a fair number of different orchestras, I'd definitely say that not all of them are necessarily that good.
The best local one I've heard is the Colorado Symphony Orchestra; I've also heard NYC's, Chicago's, and San Francisco's before. Some day I'd love to see & hear the Vienna Philharmonic.