Fidelity vs. Musicality...........Is there a tug of War?

Anything added is distortion. Piano, for instance, has overtones stretched over harmonics.

… best we agree to disagree on that one. Technically you are correct of course, however in music reproduction I prefer an amp that adds 5% 2nd order harmonics over one which adds 0.01% 5th order harmonics. The vast majority of posters here will make the same choice in a listening test.


I’m looking at distortion in the context of how we experience music vs. what a scope will show.

@cleeds


No no no, fidelity is my spouse being faithful to me, not me to her! Jeez dude. 😂🤣

Seriously though, I have no problem with the accepted definition of fidelity; it’s more a case of how that definition is applied in audio. I don’t consider high fidelity in audio as the ability of an amplifier to reproduce a sine wave accurately on a scope. Rather i see high fidelity of an amplifier to reproduce music in a way that I find it to be natural and accurate. 

The two are not the same, and most often some amplifiers will do the one well, the other not much.

@bpoletti 

"If you can't define it, then you have no clue what you're talking about."

I've noticed.

I need help understanding this question: 

How will I recognize "fidelity" if and when I hear it? 

And what does musicality sound like? 

herb

Fidelity goes out the window when ya pick a microphone, musicality not so much…

Fidelity is accuracy to a very complex waveform, musicality is both mystical and variable to the individual….