The term Hi-Fi has been about for a long time - long enough that it feels like it should be old skool. But the requirement for real Hi-Fi sound stays very up-to-date; it's now usually relevant to Hi-Fi audio, mobile iPods and home theatre systems - but recall the term is short 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 kit capable of delivering a quality of sound performance superior to that other units, which were, well, lower fidelity. Fidelity - being truthful, being faithful to the original. The memorable old HMV symbol of the dog close to the phonograph immediately sent the message - that what he, the dog, heard was a true rendition of the real sound.
Perhaps virtually all real Hi-Fi sound systems available through online or sold nowadays are indeed high fidelity, but some are much higher than others. The hunt for ever-higher fidelity goes on and annually sees further advancements with systems which are now extraordinarily good. But then, anyone who has put on a high-quality set of headphones to listen to a musical performance recorded under modern concert conditions can swear to something which is a bit of a Hi-Fi conundrum: specifically, the recording sounds better than any original - so it's truly not giving you high fidelity. Far from it in fact.
How can this be so? Well, it comes down to the undeniable fact that life, real life, is rarely going to be perfect, whereas, the technology of sound creation and reproduction gets better and 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 is not necessarily something we wish to reproduce with great fidelity - it's not quite good enough. We're not after a steadfast fax of real life, but some higher ideal.
Hence relax and enjoy: put on the headphones or the surround sound speakers and turn on the CD, iPod or MP3. Hi-fi kit and all the associated technology can deliver to you, and quite cheaply, an audio experience which can actually be called divine since it overreaches what you can experience in 'real ' life.
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 kit capable of delivering a quality of sound performance superior to that other units, which were, well, lower fidelity. Fidelity - being truthful, being faithful to the original. The memorable old HMV symbol of the dog close to the phonograph immediately sent the message - that what he, the dog, heard was a true rendition of the real sound.
Perhaps virtually all real Hi-Fi sound systems available through online or sold nowadays are indeed high fidelity, but some are much higher than others. The hunt for ever-higher fidelity goes on and annually sees further advancements with systems which are now extraordinarily good. But then, anyone who has put on a high-quality set of headphones to listen to a musical performance recorded under modern concert conditions can swear to something which is a bit of a Hi-Fi conundrum: specifically, the recording sounds better than any original - so it's truly not giving you high fidelity. Far from it in fact.
How can this be so? Well, it comes down to the undeniable fact that life, real life, is rarely going to be perfect, whereas, the technology of sound creation and reproduction gets better and 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 is not necessarily something we wish to reproduce with great fidelity - it's not quite good enough. We're not after a steadfast fax of real life, but some higher ideal.
Hence relax and enjoy: put on the headphones or the surround sound speakers and turn on the CD, iPod or MP3. Hi-fi kit and all the associated technology can deliver to you, and quite cheaply, an audio experience which can actually be called divine since it overreaches what you can experience in 'real ' life.
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