Musings from old school on High Fidelity

HIGH FIDELITY
noun Electronics.

sound reproduction over the full range of audible frequencies with very little distortion of the original signal.

Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range.

In radio, sound recording, etc., an approximately exact reproduction of sound achieved by low distortion and a wide range of reproduced frequencies, from approximately 20 to 20,000 hertz

Very interesting....

This official definition makes me understand many thing, that was not obvious for me...I am not an engineer so far, nor a working specialist in the audio field....

Only an "amateur" looking for a good sound....

This definition makes me conscious that " high fidelity" is restricted in the very narrow sense of electronical engineering....

This is normal because in the last hundred years it was engineers that gives to us the gear that makes possible the reproduction of recorded sound...

But i am an audiophile who dream to gives to himself the maximum S. Q experience possible at the least cost...

Is electronics components the only variable able to do so?

The answer in my case is a resolute no....

Embeddings mechanically an audio system, controlling resonance and isolating it from external vibrations is not necessarily the results of electronical new application or the results of buying new electronic component...Different passive materials or device can make it happen....

Embedding electrically an audio system to controls the noise floor of the house and room is not necessarily also the results of placing a new active electronic device all along the road of the electrical grid, i succeed with passive materials of my owns all along the road...

Embedding acoustically an audio system can be partially the results of using electronical device, i use for example many Schumann generators modified, but generally most use passive materials of requisite properties, and i use also active resonators of different size and kind, and many other passive device of my own....

Then high-fidelity concept is not synonym with audiophile concept....

Distinguishing the 2 concepts is important.... Separating them and opposing them is useless and only the proof of a misunderstanding...There is NO objectivist versus subjectivist war.... Only ignorance on the 2 side....

« Distinguishing without separating»- old Groucho Marx

I will add that what we listen to at the end comes more from the interaction of the speakers with the room, and comes better if the noise floor of the house and room are low, better if resonant gear are also controlled and tuned and isolated for sure, what we listen to comes more at the end from these controlled conditions than from the choice of any electronic component, be it a dac or a an amplifier in particular most of the times....

That is my experience....

In audio history some evolution of engineering design for recorded sound transmission seems to come first, but the acoustical conditions for the experience were always there, for example in the acoustical design of concert hall or church acoustical function or Greek and Roman theater...

High-fidelity and audiophile experience are 2 hands from the same body.....Anyone who want to say otherwise is confused....

:)

Not bragging, and honestly, no i have not heard many top class systems lately,,but recall some from years ago,,and IMHO , my system now with new IC's, is  close to Real High Fidelity. 
My friend has a Golden Tube amp modded (he is a tech) + AR's + CJ pre modded, sounds really great,, IF you like that warm  sound,,, sort likea  olive band at a  club. Thats not what i am looking  for, I avoid *warm*, Mine is quiet, dynamic, fq separation/sound stage, voice pure natural, 
When I hear a  system which has these descripts
 Midrange fqs::Muddy/murky/smokey/greyish, musht, bland, flat
/highs rolloff, voice not natural, like has a   covering over the vocals, other things that get on my nerves are ::: ,boomy bass,, highs too extended = plastic and tinny. 
I  usually just stand there and pretend I am interested,, makinga  few foot tappings to let the owner know , yeah its a nice sound...when actually i want to turn the vol knob alot lower, real fast,,,or finda  excuse to get away from the torture. 
Here is my latest YT upload, and my system is really comming together now with the 2nd pair of IC's. 
Humbly, my system to me sounds ~~High Fidelity~~More changes/mods to come,,,,
This is the best sound I've ever heard in my life comming froma  system. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1gtIouVb6E&t=6s

This silver IC's do seem a step up from Cu, and the $ not so stratospheric to do so. So I'll say 'good move, and expond further on what you percieve, please. *S*
But I'm charmed by the 2x4....and Please, change your fan to a pair of 'puter fans...they're so much quieter...*s*
(The shoes beat the socks...;) I'm a 'sandals' guy myself, but spouse sez I've got 'ugly feet', 'hammer toes & ruined big toe nails L&R....'omg'*L*)

"Real High Fidelity".....Well, you're almost There...

...for now. ;)

OK...Now, Enjoy!   If only for the moments you seek on That LP, in that moment.  It's seems too damn transient a time for most who haunt here.

Not that I belittle the quest in the general sense of the meaning; trust me here (and hear *s*), because I do understand...and appreciate the Quest.

I seek in my own fashion, as do (I hope) anyone else that frequents AG.
We all have our various Nirvanas....*S*

I prefer 'flat' response....to the point of having a separate digital eq that allows room DSP for whatever speakers I'm running.  This in a space that has been 'temporary' for far longer than I'd care for, less so to admit to.

One adapts....and moves forward....eventually....

I have no problems with 'The Quest', and what we do to attain our goals.
'We' may be a breed doomed to extinction, considered 'extremist', 'driven', or just merely 'nutz'.  "Old Skool....and Proud."

We Can (perhaps) utilize our experience, our collective knowledge, and ( for that matter), 'tastes' to shape the inevitable future of 'fi'.  Make class D live up to its' promise.  The 'next Gen' speakers really sound like Real High Fidelity, and for that matter influence the digital processes that 'synth' 3D audio 'environments' to Really Work...every damn time, without sounding like ones' been dumped into a Pollak or a de Kooning of audio fuzz....

...or we can sit here, and just argue and bitch.

How...fullfilling.

Anyway...I like the idea of silver cables that don't cost replacing the engine on a car.  I recognize the seller, good 'stats'.

The world needs more heretics.

Cheers, J

Some thoughts from a "boomer" professional audio systems engineer and musician who has designed and built systems from high end tweak hi-fi home installations to performing arts theaters and sports arenas regarding the hobby that Syn Aud Con founder Don Davis referred to as "Hi Futility":
I love music, all kinds. I have played in everything from jazz ensembles to blues or beach music bands to symphony orchestras. Likewise I listen to a broad range of music, though I lean toward the more acoustic performance genres than electronic.

There are both empirically measurable physics and unavoidably subjective qualities involved in the design and application of audio components, especially for analog transducer elements at each end of the chain, microphones, pickups, loudspeakers, analog to digital converters at both ends.

I'll address the digital realm first since that is the easiest to deal with. Digital encoding is simply applying a scale of discrete numeric values to a varying analog voltage. Think of a simple yard stick. The physical length of the stick is represents the range of analog values. The incremental numeric marks the digital values. The smallest measurement increment is the scale resolution. For a yard stick perhaps the highest practical resolution is 1/32" and the limiting resolution beyond which it becomes useless is perhaps 1/64th inch.  Digital audio resolution has progressed from the original CD format 44.1KHz/16bit through the typical studio values of 48KHZ-96KHz 24bit to current DSP software and internal sampling values as high as 192KHz with full 32 bit float, i.e infinite fractional value encoding.
Once an audio signal is in the digital realm, the only critical thing is that those numeric values get transferred between AD and DA converters with absolute mathematical accuracy. The hardware at its best is accurate to one bit error in billions.
To quote Don Davis again, you don't empirically know something in physics until you can assign it a number. The digital audio realm today is the realm of applied mathematical physics. The only effect it can have on audio quality is that which is deliberately introduced for desired reasons depending on application. 
Two important things to understand about physics.
1. Science does not deal in absolutes. It deals in probabilities and approximations. The gold standard measurement constant in physics is the speed of light in a vacuum. After nearly 200 years physicists still quibble over the exact measurement of this value depending on which set of theoretical equations are used... at the 17th decimal place!
2. Beyond a reasonable point empirically related to the task at hand mathematical precision becomes irrelevant.
 

To be continued...