I'm fine with either style of system, although I start with the recording. I can no longer even listen to old, poor, thin sounding recordings. I couldn't care less how good the music is, it will sound atrocious to my ears. Most of the Beatles and much of Led Zeppelin's catalogue falls into that camp (but I can tolerate some Zeppelin albums such as In Through The Out Doors).
You can't unhear a more modern well done recording where there is actually meat on the bones so to speak. While I do not prefer highly compressed recordings, I also feel that there still exists the potential that if done well, they can still sound very good. There is skill involved in such matters after all. We now have recording and mixing/mastering engineers who have been working with compression for a long time, as well as new tools so compression has also advanced.
I find it smacks of elitism when people imply the only correct way to enjoy the music is with as neutral a playback chain as possible. Hogwash I say. There is no right or wrong, or more or less correct when it comes to the subjective enjoyment of the experience. I agree that the most neutral system will allow the original recording intent to be the most clear, but who is so full of themselves that they actually think they have the right to dictate how another person should enjoy their personal music experience? If somebody likes the added harmonic distortion of tubes, or the effects a horn based speaker imparts on the music great for them. I don't have to build my system that way.