Para sa akin hifi is objective. Kasi sound is objective, as in the reproduced waveform is as close as possible to the produced waveform. Its not the same as saying "bringing you the experience of live music as close as possible." Experience is subjective, waveforms are not.
You got it dead on, Garp. People often confuse the objectives of this hobby with the objectives of High Fidelity. They're entirely different. High fidelity leans more towards the objective and measureable. On the other hand, the hobby deals with personal experience. The hobby induges your personal experience on what sounds right for you or what sounds closest to your personal perception of real musical sounds, if at all that's what you want to achieve sonic nirvana. High Fidelity doesn't deal with perceptions. Its objective of faithfulness to the recording at home reproduction or playback is just another road to your sonic nirvana. In other words, Hi fi is just an option to take. You can go to the more exotic and subjective Euphonic route if you like.
The keywords there as mentioned several times are "as close as possible". That's why its not called "exact fidelity" just "high fidelity." The question then is what does "as close as possible" mean? I dunno. Is there a standard? I dunno. But just because we can't put an exact figure on it or that a standard definition exisits (am assumming there isn't), its no longer objective. As concepts these terms are objective. What's subjective is how people use the terms loosely to descibe their experience.
I should have said it that way. "As close as possible" really depends on your own perception. You cannot put a standard on personal experiences, except your own, which only applies to you and no one else. Having said that, the definition of high fidelity does imply some measureable " standard" of sorts. The implicit standard are the conditions that can accomplish faithfulness to the recording. When you aim to be faithfull to a recording, the only way to attain this is to use players, amplifiers and speakers with performance traits that are neutral, transparent and accurate in the room that is likewise. To be
neutral suggests the smallest db deviation of any frequency from FLAT response across the audio bandwidth, the least % THD, TIMs and IMs and other distrotion products that add or subtract to the original signals across the audio bandwith at any power setting. To be
transparent suggests the widest bandwith for all the recorded music signal to pass through unimpeded from the softest to the loudest. It also suggests the least interchannel crosstalk conditions and the least phase shifts that hamper the soundstage. TO be
accurate suggests the lowest db noise floors that potentially obscure the weakest details of the signals, the highest slew rates and rise times to allow the fastest signals to reveal itself and a great damping factor to let the bass signals act the way it was recorded. Actually, the meaning of these three attributes have very slim boundaries that it is very easy to jumble the definitions of each with one another. It really doesn't matter, for as along as we know what these conditions are in our best efforts to achieve high fidelity. These condiitons are what we look for in the specs of our gears and some of these also apply and we measure the accoustic qualities of rooms. So they're measureable. High Fidelity is measureable.
Now if you have the conditions that can attain your hgihest possible fidelity to the recorded music, then your personal perceptions now enter the picture on whether those high fidelity sounds are close enough to the live performance you remember to be in one of your memorable live musical experiences or not. High Fidleity wouldn't pressume to know how each person perceives that. It only aims to be faithfull to the ONLY thing the comes closest to a live performance at home. That is the recording.
But really all these debate is moot and academic to me kasi its not the taxonomy that governs my listening enjoyment.
True. You individual hearing biologies and your listening preferences and bias are what this hobby indulges. Your pursuit of sonic nirvana is a personal experiential journey that defines what this hobby is about. Whether you get there through high fidelity or not is up to you. Standards, if any, can only guide you more easily to your quest. It can also dictate sometimes. But you are free to follow or not.
