The term Hi-Fi has been around for a very long time – long enough that it feels like it should be ancient fashioned. But the necessity for real Hi-Fi sound remains really recent; it’s now generally pertinent to stereo audio, mobile iPods and home-based theatre systems – but don't forget the term is small for “high fidelity”.
Words evolve and lose connection with their original meanings. So , Hi-Fi came to mean a set of devices – a disk player, a receiver, some surround sound speakers – for playing music. This now extends to a greater range of option: more speaker types such as subwoofers, tweeters and headphones, more technologies like MP3, CDs DVDs, surround sound, dolby, blue ray. And let's face it, even the most modest iPods, modern disc player or perhaps radio produces “high fidelity” compared to those available 50 years ago.
Back then, “high fidelity” indicated products capable of delivering a sound quality reproduction superior to that other products, which were, well, lower fidelity. Fidelity – speaking the truth, being trustworthy to the original. The well-known ancient HMV logo of the dog sitting next to the phonograph graphically sent the message – that what he, the dog, heard was a faithful reproduction of the real deal.
Maybe nearly all real Hi-Fi sound systems available thru online or sold today are indeed high fidelity, but some are higher than others. The quest for ever-higher fidelity goes on and every year sees further refinements to systems which already are strikingly excellent. But then, anyone that has place on a top quality set of headphones to hear a musical performance recorded under modern audio studio conditions can testify to something which is a small bit of a Hi-Fi conundrum: namely, that the recording sounds better than any original – so it’s really not giving you high fidelity. Far from it in fact.
How can this be so? Well, it boils down to the incontrovertible fact that life, real life, isn't going to be perfect, while, the wizardry of sound creation and reproduction gets better, in the general direction of its own definition of perfection.
You sit in a concert music hall, a recital hall, and listen to a performance. The sound relationships between, say, the first violins and the trumpets varies from position to position in the concert hall, with only 1 ‘perfect ‘ spot. But then it’s not perfect for the balance between the violins and the tympani. Then there ambient noise – call it jumble or interference.
This real life musical experience isn't always something we want to reproduce with fantastic fidelity – it’s not sufficiently excellent. We are not after a dependable facsimile of real life, but some higher ideal.
Therefore relax and delight in: place on the headphones or the surround sound speakers and switch on the CD, iPod or MP3. Hi-fi equipment and all the associated technology can deliver to you, and quite cost effectively, an audio experience which can truly be called divine since it surpasses what you can feel in ‘real ‘ life.
Learn real Hi-Fi soundsystems in your local town or regional city using the web business list dLook.
Tags: Music, CD, Speakers, concert, Stereo, headphones, dolby, Hi-fi, MP3