Now how we choose to listen to this recording is up to us. If we choose to use headphones and will only ever use headphones - All other methods lose relevance.
I acknowledge that you read and understand what I'm saying, regardless of how we might disagree on certain points. You are certainly free to disagree and you are certainly free to make a recording into whatever you'd like to be. You own the recording, it's yours to do with as you will.
But the fact remains that there are *intentions* involved in the making of certain recordings. The fuss and the trouble that some recording engineers go to while setting up microphone arrays at live concert events are for good reason, at least in the minds of some recording engineers. The entire GOAL is to bring the live concert experience to the listener of the recording, as much as possible.
And In order to realize the intended goals of certain recordings, we need to play them in the manner in which they were designed to be played. Especially with acoustic classical recordings, the ideal manner of playback is often assumed to be an array of loudspeakers. By design, the typical headphone system will indeed "compromise" the intended effects of the recording style.
Once again, you are free to do with any recording as you wish but don't let your personal preferences obscure the integrity of concrete facts.
The point remains, there is such a thing as an "optimal" playback method for certain recordings. And vice-versa, there is also such a thing as a compromised" method of playback - at least for certain recordings.
Sure, some recordings are made in ways that make the playback method truly "irrelevant" (as you might say), but this is definitely NOT always the case...
Sometimes the truth is simple and clear, sometimes not. But when it is simple and clear let's respect it for what it is. And let's show some respect for the hard work that some recording engineers put into their recordings, and for the intentions of certain composers and musicians whose wishes might be that we would (ideally) hear a piece of music played back IN A CERTAIN WAY.
I think that everyone should strive to acquire a decent loudspeaker setup, as space and finances allow. Loudspeakers remain the only way to honor the wishes of certain composers, musicians, and engineers! And I don't think that loudspeakers are going away anytime soon, because the loudspeaker experience is unique, visceral, and lifelike in ways that headphones cannot be. Recordings will continue to be made with the assumption that conscientious listeners will do everything in their power to hear them in the "optimal" way, as they were intended to be heard.
