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I'm tired of audiophile and high fidelity confusion.

diegooo1972

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I'm tired of audiophile and high fidelity confusion.

Hi-FI is the best possible reproduction of music. Possibly as similar as the sound perception in the recording studio.
Nothing will simply beat, in that case, the exact equipment used in studio during the recording. Dot.

Audiophile is a completely different metter. You may have a better personal and subjective experience by using equipments that will color the sound in a more interesting way for you. Nothing different then to add some sort of effect in you reproduction chain. As good as it can be. Dot.

Confusing this two considereations is just useless and will result in snake oil product due to subjective perception of music and sounds.

You don't fell allright with Hgh-Fidelity and you prefer a different experience ? Well this is perfectly fine and everyone should choose as he prefer. Subjectively.

But just stop pretending a colored sound can be Hgh-Fidelity. It's not.
You feel it's a better experience ? Ok then. Just decide. Don't pretende to have your cake and eat it.
 

Chrispy

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Hi-fi doesn't necessarily mean the best, just that it's of high fidelity. Audiophiles are people, poor descriptor for gear as hard to say what taste an individual might have :)
 
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diegooo1972

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@Vini darko Absolutely you can love both. But you can't have them both in the same equipment.
Or it color the sound and gave you better personal experience or it didn't and you may have the same sound in the recording studio which is high fidelity.
 
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diegooo1972

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Hi-fi doesn't necessarily mean the best, just that it's of high fidelity. Audiophiles are people, poor descriptor for gear as hard to say what taste an individual might have :)

I'll never say that one is absolutely better then the other for everyone. Music should be emotion which is personal. But still you can't have them both. I may prefer colored sound but I can't pretend is HI-FI.
 

Jimbob54

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I'm tired of audiophile and high fidelity confusion.

Hi-FI is the best possible reproduction of music. Possibly as similar as the sound perception in the recording studio.
Nothing will simply beat, in that case, the exact equipment used in studio during the recording. Dot.

Audiophile is a completely different metter. You may have a better personal and subjective experience by using equipments that will color the sound in a more interesting way for you. Nothing different then to add some sort of effect in you reproduction chain. As good as it can be. Dot.

Confusing this two considereations is just useless and will result in snake oil product due to subjective perception of music and sounds.

You don't fell allright with Hgh-Fidelity and you prefer a different experience ? Well this is perfectly fine and everyone should choose as he prefer. Subjectively.

But just stop pretending a colored sound can be Hgh-Fidelity. It's not.
You feel it's a better experience ? Ok then. Just decide. Don't pretende to have your cake and eat it.

Nope . Going to disagree with your definition here if not your intention.

All any playback system can do is be as fidelius to the source as possible. The source being the file/disc/LP. Forget everything before that. Unless there are both good and bad versions of the tracks in question, in which case you obviously want the better source file.

Forget sound perception in the recording studio. Forget the playback equipment in the studio. Reproduce what is on that silver disc faithfully with your electronics and have good transducers EQd as best as you can for your room.
 
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Vini darko

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@diegoo1972 yeah I can mostly agree , got colored and "accurate" gear and enjoy both. Modern stuff is getting difficult to categorize so easily though. Good examlpe would be the buchadt A500 recently released. Those things can be both.
 

Weeb Labs

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@Vini darko But you can't have them both in the same equipment.
My NC400s with a toob simulator come rather close. :cool:
1600637350905.png
 

raistlin65

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Hi-FI is the best possible reproduction of music.

I thought Hi-Fi was an abbreviation for "high" fidelity, not "highest" fidelity. Always seemed to me that line between high fidelity and low fidelity was a little fuzzier than your definition.

Notably with some snooty audiophiles, Hi-Fi is whatever multi-thousand dollar set up they have, and not what people who spend less (or can't afford as much) have. lol
 

Chrispy

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I'll never say that one is absolutely better then the other for everyone. Music should be emotion which is personal. But still you can't have them both. I may prefer colored sound but I can't pretend is HI-FI.

Just a pet peeve based on the words involved, I just find the "audiophile" connected with describing gear as useless and wrong :) Especially seeing how many audiophiles are plain goofy :)
 

AndyLu

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I'm tired of audiophile and high fidelity confusion.

Hi-FI is the best possible reproduction of music. Possibly as similar as the sound perception in the recording studio.
Nothing will simply beat, in that case, the exact equipment used in studio during the recording. Dot.

Audiophile is a completely different metter. You may have a better personal and subjective experience by using equipments that will color the sound in a more interesting way for you. Nothing different then to add some sort of effect in you reproduction chain. As good as it can be. Dot.

Confusing this two considereations is just useless and will result in snake oil product due to subjective perception of music and sounds.

You don't fell allright with Hgh-Fidelity and you prefer a different experience ? Well this is perfectly fine and everyone should choose as he prefer. Subjectively.

But just stop pretending a colored sound can be Hgh-Fidelity. It's not.
You feel it's a better experience ? Ok then. Just decide. Don't pretende to have your cake and eat it.

It seems like you make some artificial distinction between the terms 'hifi' and 'audiophile'. Like one is 'good' and the other is 'bad'.

'High Fidelity' translates to 'highly true to the original'. And not to the best possible reproduction, otherwise people would have called it 'Best-fi' or 'Ulti-fi' or something like that. Hi-fi is an old term and refers historically to the DIN 45500 norm (DIN = Deutsche Industrie Norm). This DIN Norm consisted of certain minimum norms (frequency responce, SNR etc.) before you could call sound equipment 'hi-fi'. These DIN Norms are already very old and even lots of cheap modern appliances can easily cope with these DIN norms.
As said Hi-fi is an old term which originated around 1931: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fidelity#DIN_45500.
Compared to current standards the Hi-Fi norm is more or less meaningless and outdated and certainly not as strict as you seem to define it.

According to Wiki an "audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction.[1] An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a live musical performance, typically in a room with good acoustics. It is widely agreed that reaching this goal is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.[2][3]".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiophile

Do you see a distinction between the two terms above? I do not. And why do you think audiophile means 'a coloured sound'? It simply means 'being enthusiastic about hifi'.

In short: The distinction you make between the two is non existent. It is of course possible that some audiophiles go too far in there hobby (as people can do in any hobby), but in the end it is both about hi-fi (or reaching for the best possible sound).

Conclusion: I don't get your point.
 
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North_Sky

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What all of this leads to? Music

And music no matter how it is reproduced, manipulated, delivered, live, studio, living room, ... is what makes us feel good, right?

So, the biggest the most accurate the best delivery the best live experience the best zone of comfort in our own home ... what makes us feel good, real good, inside and out, our soul vibrations, our body's sensations, our good vibes.

Some is headphones, others is computers, some is the largest room with the largest mechanical loudspeakers ever made on the planet Earth, some is the most humble setup, others is an iPod, some is John Coltrane ...
 
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diegooo1972

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#AndyLu I'm not playing with word: i'm aware that for example a 1% thd amplifier can be considered HI-FI for definition.
But if you want a more specific context here it is. Let's talk about the best reproduction you can achieve and,as I said in the 1st post, when you talk about equipment, it must be the same equipmente used in studio. This is the best fidelity in reproduction. And even there you don't really have the original sound. I'm not saying that audiofile is bad, I'm saying that is bad when they think to have colored sound as a subjective pleasure and pretend to have at the same time Fidelity of reproduction. This is simply not possible. I already said I may prefer colored sound in some circumstances but i'm well aware that is not fidelity. Is just some kind of effect in the chain. Maybe the best sound ever created but just not fidelity at it's best. One or the other.
 

Chrispy

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#AndyLu I'm not playing with word: i'm aware that for example a 1% thd amplifier can be considered HI-FI for definition.
But if you want a more specific context here it is. Let's talk about the best reproduction you can achieve and,as I said in the 1st post, when you talk about equipment, it must be the same equipmente used in studio. This is the best fidelity in reproduction. And even there you don't really have the original sound. I'm not saying that audiofile is bad, I'm saying that is bad when they think to have colored sound as a subjective pleasure and pretend to have at the same time Fidelity of reproduction. This is simply not possible. I already said I may prefer colored sound in some circumstances but i'm well aware that is not fidelity. Is just some kind of effect in the chain. Maybe the best sound ever created but just not fidelity at it's best. One or the other.

The biggest difference in a studio vs home would be speakers and room setup....not particularly the electronics.
 
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diegooo1972

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No one knows how it sounded in the recording studio except the tone engineer who worked there.
That's not the point. You can follow flawless reproduction with best measurement equipment or you can look for best personal experience through colored sound. You just can't pretend to have both at the same time. You may love a perfect reproduction but other than that, everything else is just an effect in the chain. You love it. Very well and I mean it. But it's not fidelity. Sound stage experience with warm and relaxed sound is subjective and contradictory with fidelity that is a technical and mesurable evaluation. I insist you can't have them both.
 
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diegooo1972

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The biggest difference in a studio vs home would be speakers and room setup....not particularly the electronics.
When I talk about studio equipments I also include room acoustic and speakers too. And you still miss the sound engineer which will never do the same exact job again. That also depend on emotional state of the time period.
 

q3cpma

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What all of this leads to? Music

And music no matter how it is reproduced, manipulated, delivered, live, studio, living room, ... is what makes us feel good, right?

So, the biggest the most accurate the best delivery the best live experience the best zone of comfort in our own home ... what makes us feel good, real good, inside and out, our soul vibrations, our body's sensations, our good vibes.

Some is headphones, others is computers, some is the largest room with the largest mechanical loudspeakers ever made on the planet Earth, some is the most humble setup, others is an iPod, some is John Coltrane ...
Sorry but that's just hedonism.
 

AndyLu

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#AndyLu I'm not playing with word: i'm aware that for example a 1% thd amplifier can be considered HI-FI for definition.
But if you want a more specific context here it is. Let's talk about about the best reproduction you can achieve and,as I said in the 1st post, when you talk about equipment, it must be the same equipmente used in studio. This is the best fidelity in reproduction. And even there you don't really have the original sound. I'm not saying that audiofile i bad, I'm saying that is bad when they think to have colored sound as a subjective pleasure and pretend to have at the same time Fidelity of reproduction. This is simply not possible. I already said I may prefer colored sound in some circumstances but i'm well aware that is not fidelity. Is just some kind of effect in the chain. Maybe the best sound ever created but just not fidelity at it's best. One or the other.

I am not playing with words either ;), but I am simply not agreeing with you.

Hifi does not mean that it has to be the same equipment as used in the studio. That is your opinion, but not a fact. It is simply some condition you are making up, but it is nowhere defined in any hifi norm that it should be. You may think that that is the best reproduction, but I think not. Even if I use the same equipment as in the studio..... my room is different. And also, according to your definition: for every record (recorded in a different studio) I have to use different equipment..... Do you see where your definition is going?

My opinion (and as far as I know that is a more general opinion) is that Hi-fi is aiming towards a 'high quality reproduction' of the original source. Where does it say it has to be the same equipment? Also in my opinion (as stated earlier already) the source is not the studio or the equipment in it (because that is impossible to achieve at home for every record). No, in my opinion the source is the medium on which the music is recorded.

All the conditions you state about Hi-fi or 'Audiophiles' are pointless in my opinion, because you and I have a very different definition about the terms 'hi-fi' and 'audiophile'.

I think we have no common basis to discuss this any further. Agree to disagree.
 
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Chrispy

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When I talk about studio equipments I also include room acoustic and speakers too. And you still miss the sound engineer which will never do the same exact job again. That also depend on emotional state of the time period.

You didn't mention them but used an amp as an example....but kind of a silly task to try and replicate one studio or production at a time, too.
 
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