It has been said by many, that the purpose of high end audio, is to get as close or to replicate the original live performance.
I disagree with this. With very few exceptions, most recordings do not capture a live event...they are either studio produced, taken off mixing boards during a live event, or some mixture of the two. IMHO, the artist, recording engineer, and producer try to put something down in a recording that represents the performance, but tailored towards a listening experience at home (or in the car).
Sometimes people talk about a "truly great system won't hurt your ears". Well, sometimes live performances hurt your ears (ever sat in the front row of a Dizzie Gillespie performance in a small jazz club, and you'll know!)...but a recording engineer may have taken some of the edge off the trumpet so that it is more "listenable" when played at home.
So...IMHO, "High End Audio" is about reproducing a recording in a way that most likely represents the intentions of the recording engineer. Obviously, this varies from recording to recording, which is why I think most audiophiles are in endless pursuit of happiness. 
I entered recording about 18 years ago with the same presumption as bgewaudio. It took about two years of almost literally beating my head against a wall
to finally come to grips with the fact that my
clients weren't interested in the recording sounding like the real thing. No, they wanted the recording to sound like a good
recording!!
That is to say, with a little stage makeup.
Did you ever see a stage actor, who looks natural when seen from the audience perspective, backstage with all their makeup on? They look grotesquely exaggerated in reality, but it works onstage.
There is another aspect to this, too, and that is that even if you intent was to make the recording sound as natural and real as possible, you would still have to use a little dynamic compression to mimic what you would hear in the audience, given that you are hearing a different ratio of direct to relected sound than the (closer) microphone.
The microphone - even the main stereo pair, if that's the kind of recording it is (large scale acoustic; orchestra, choir, big band) is generally in the near field whereas the audience sits in the reverberent field.
The transition from near to reverberent field occurs when the acoustic energy comprises an equal amount of direct and reflected energy.
Finally, the close or spot mics need a little artificial reverb added, usually, and a little high frequency cut to provide the necessary impression of distance. Highs are lost in the air faster than lows. In addition, almost all mics provide a boost in the highs which must be compensated for, if realism is the goal.
