Fidelity

Needless to say, I'll take 'enjoyment' as my priority
every single time. That may in fact lead to someone else's resemblence
to accuracy, but it sure wasn't my motivating factor.

I felt the need to explain that further as I didn't turn any music on and am still stuck in my head.

I compared three preamps in one of my systems the other day. When I listened for very specific cues as to why each differed from the other, in order to 'analyze' each one more 'critically' I really had no sense of enjoyment of the music at all, nor any sense of how much I was enjoying the preamp under scrutiny. When I let go of all the analytical games was when my toe started tapping and my body started moving...I was becoming more physically and emotionally involved in the music, and loving every second of it. Going from one preamp to another in my system I found that one had me moving, while another, although remarkably airy and dimensional in this case, did not seem to have what it took to engage me nearly as much. I could easily become distracted and disengaged with the music. Perhaps that is what critics call a component that is too "analytical". Regardless, my preference was with the component that got me out of my head and bobbing to the music. I really don't think that "accuracy" necessarily was the primary virtue that leads to that. I'm not sure what is though, and I don't really feel the need to quantify it. If it's there, there's really no mistaking it. Yes, it can certainly be there in one's experience of a "low-fidelity" system too. I think one's expectations may be the enemy to contend with there.

Marco

Honestly. I do enjoy my system, and enjoyment of music is the number one priority. I guess I was just confused about the ways accuracy and fidelity bump into eachother on this and other web sites and in magazine reviews. I was interested in these words as used in audio, and then maybe some insights as how they might differ from eachother is this context. They do not seem to be the same animals. words are politcal too, so it does not suprise me I would be interested in their uses here.

My father learned how to cook from the old foggies soldiers who were originally mercenaries from Shang Dong, province in NE China, who are known for their mastery of pasta.

Whenever I go out to eat NE Chinese noodles, I always use my dad's noodles as reference of what is true noodle fidelity.

And so you know, right? What comes closest to this? Nothing exact, perhaps , but when done correctly it meets the criteria of your own experience of what it is?