Zensō
Major Contributor
I’m old enough to remember a time when “HiFi” still meant “high fidelity”, and most audiophiles were still concerned with high fidelity reproduction. Here’s a good definition in case you’re unclear on the meaning:What the artist / recording engineer intended?
Sounds like we need "Artist / Recording Engineer" approved gear....that is gear that can actually provide the experience that was intended.
Otherwise who knows what they intended something to sound like...do you?
Oh excuse me while I finish making my appointment....LOL
High fidelity (often shortened to Hi-Fi or HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound.[1] It is important to audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range.[2]
Back in the day, reaching the above goals of “inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response” was relatively difficult (and expensive). Now, through modern technology and the influence of sites like this one, those goals are much easier (and less expensive) to reach. Gear that meets these goals allows us to hear the music with a high level of fidelity, in a way that is true to the source ("as the artist intended").
These types of “retro”, purposely distorted DACs and amps are not HiFi. They’re more akin to effects boxes, made to appeal to a certain segment of the audiophile crowd who, in my opinion, have lost sight of what it means to be an audiophile.
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