What does Hi-Fi Even Mean anymore?

@mapman,

Thanks for sharing the article. IMO, Alex Munro is spot on with current state of HiFi, 

"The original proposition and purpose of hi-fi has all but gone. That is except for a hard core among audio enthusiasts, who are still making tiny incremental changes to a component audio system seeking the ultimate sound, adopting higher and higher resolution replay sources. But only those of them who attend a lot of live unamplified music have kept touch with the original aims of hi-fi.”

Yes I thought that comment was spot on too. I feel like I pass that test. I recall what got me into this stuff back in the "early days of hifi" as a kid and try not to get sidetracked. But of course to each their own. It’s all good fun and entertainment.

I still like the term hi-fi and use it all the time.  Still says it all.  Except the fidelity these days is not just higher than ever but easier to obtain for more.

I was more down with Louis Dorio myself:


"Hi-fi in 2021 really has to do with a philosophy rather than a set of stringent requirements. It’s instead a listener’s pursuit of the best playback quality, independent of the format (vinyl, digital) that the listener chooses. Hi-fi often gets thrown around as a marketing term — a way to try to get music lovers to buy products — but it’s not necessarily always about that."


Also I found the reply from the CEO of McIntosh to be almost incomprehensible.