What is the reason for hi-fi? Well, the simple answer is to make the most of the music software that you have.
In some ways this thread parallels a thread that I started:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...t%3F+expensive.
Having posed this question, there has been some carefully thought out and worded responses, particularly those of Chris (TGW), Ralph (REM) and Martin (Macca). To my embarrassment, I realise that I have yet to reply. I’ll use this thread to both respond to Andre's question as well as reply to some of the posts on my thread.
For me and I imagine those of us who can attend concerts, especially those that are un-amplified, I want my audio system to provide a believable facsimile of such concerts. From the many aspects that a system has to satisfy in order to achieve this ambition i.e. one of realism, I place tonal fidelity and image focus at the top of the list; I cannot stand colouration and like the sound stage to be well defined and fixed. Next I would place a good sense of dynamics and the achievement of realistic dynamic range. Along with this comes the whole issue of ‘pace, rhythm and timing’; depending on what is playing, I can tap my toe, snap my fingers or ever ‘boogie’ around the room. Lastly would come the ability to reproduce deep bass or ‘bat squeak’ treble.
What I don’t want is the sense that anybody is playing in my listening room. I cannot understand those who say “it’s just like (insert artist) was playing in the room”. What I want, and this is a bit difficult to describe, is that beyond a plane, near to the plane of the speakers, the walls of my living room magically disappear and I hear the music and the environment in which it is being played. The thought of hearing the Vienna Philharmonic or the LSO (an orchestra with which I’m most familiar), as if they were all playing in my living room is frankly absurd. I want to ‘hear’ the walls of the acoustic in which the performance occurs, whether this is a simple folk guitarist, sat on a stool in a folk club, or a full-blown orchestra. Again what I don’t want is a sound that is ‘more exciting’ than the original – but unless you attend concerts this is difficult to assess.
For those recordings that are studio recordings, for which there is no obvious reference, I would like to think that I am hearing what the mix-down engineer heard. But I can never know, so have to aspire to a ‘good sound’, whatever that may be.
Finally there are those enthusiasts who rarely, if ever, attend live concerts, or enjoy the performance of those artists of whom they do not, or cannot, hear in concert. For these, I can only assume that the goal here is to provide the emotional response that these artists engender. Unfortunately, this is a purely subjective aspect, and often invokes the indefinable quantities of ‘musical engagement’ and ‘insight’. At times I’m moved to tears of joy or sadness when listening to some music, or the hairs on the back of neck stand on end, from the sheer thrill.
Regards
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Originally Posted by barry.d.hunt
