[Davesrose]

Where did you get the idea that low fidelity would be more musical?

Given this environment now of COVID-19, and more and more folks uploading "Songs of Comfort"....it does appear people do respond more to performance vs what is deemed best with source engineering/format. Mary Chapin Carpenter is also uploading "Songs From Home" now...which also clearly isn't a studio recording and gets on average 2K up votes to 10 down votes. While Youtube uploads with recording from a mobile device is the most extreme....I've stated before that I have some Mozart concerts in SACD that are "technically" superior from a recording/processing level, but I don't find the music as engaging as other interpretations (especially Neville Marriner).

 

[bigshot]

Exactly. Music is music. If it's great music, you wouldn't mind if it rolls off at 10kHz. If it's bad music, it can go to the limits of an SACD and still be bad. Good fidelity can enhance good music, but do you really need high data rate audio files playing in the background while you work, or while you're riding a train? I'd rather just have really great music all the time with fidelity that serves my purpose.

 

[GearMe]

Exactly. Music is music. If it's great music, you wouldn't mind if it rolls off at 10kHz. If it's bad music, it can go to the limits of an SACD and still be bad. Good fidelity can enhance good music, but do you really need high data rate audio files playing in the background while you work, or while you're riding a train? I'd rather just have really great music all the time with fidelity that serves my purpose.

Couldn't agree more...would rather listen to music I like on a transistor radio than a great recording of mediocre/poor music on a state-of-the-art system.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Music should be the main focus and in todays era exploring it costs you nothing. I get caught in sounds and I mainly use youtube, may sound funny but it's best platform for me regards variety of music and there are so many amazing people that upload their vinyl rips. The ones I fall in love with and can afford I order to listen through my used budget turntable system . It takes time to know yourself, but the more you listen and explore, your taste in music will grow as well. If the love for music is not there, then your new high end system will bring just a temporary pleasure and soon you will be eager to look for a new coloring of your songs. It's weird that so many people choose this path and not other way around

 

[Speedskater]

Where did you get the idea that low fidelity would be more musical?

Well the real meaning of 'high fidelity' is high accuracy. So 'low fidelity' may be euphonic colorization, which can often be more musical or enjoyable than high fidelity reproduction.

 

[gargani]

Well the real meaning of 'high fidelity' is high accuracy. So 'low fidelity' may be euphonic colorization, which can often be more musical or enjoyable than high fidelity reproduction.

Agree with the last few comments.
For me hi fi is a fun hobby. I like to compare and analyze the sound and presentation of my headphones.
However one has to be careful or instead of fun it can becomes a quest for the holy grail.
Searching for that 1% "improvement, when if found becomes a search for that next 1% improvement.
Fun is replaced with frustration and a smaller bank account.

 

[bigshot]

And that pursuit of accuracy down a rabbit hole is just as common in Sound Science sometimes as it is among the unwashed masses outside our cage.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

918 pages of fighting against psy-fi voodoo and suddenly everybody agrees that all the measures of fidelity stand for nothing, tube amps are more musical and high fidelity is about hearing the guy on the 5th audience row cough at 5:32 or something. What the heck did I walk into?

 

[GearMe]

918 pages of fighting against psy-fi voodoo and suddenly everybody agrees that all the measures of fidelity stand for nothing, tube amps are more musical and high fidelity is about hearing the guy on the 5th audience row cough at 5:32 or something. What the heck did I walk into?

Ha! To my way of thinking, there's a lot of Audiophile time/money wasted chasing that holy grail of the perfect system -- some of which can be measured (mostly not heard); much of which is 'psy-fi voodoo'. I did this years ago in my high-end stereo days...eventually realized it was a definite wombat for me

For me, I'd rather spend my $ on music first, then transducers, followed by amp/dac/source hardware (in a very distant 3rd place!)

That said, I have SS and Tube amps and enjoy both. Yes, even with second-order harmonic distortion in the Tube amp case

Regarding my transducers, some are more accurate while others aren't (think basshead-ish)...I enjoy them all!

Most importantly, I enjoy the music

 

[taffy2207]

918 pages of fighting against psy-fi voodoo and suddenly everybody agrees that all the measures of fidelity stand for nothing, tube amps are more musical and high fidelity is about hearing the guy on the 5th audience row cough at 5:32 or something. What the heck did I walk into?

It's what happens when you can't go outside, peace & love for your fellow man breaks out

 

[hakunamakaka]

Well I believe that if you did the listening test for musical/coloured signature and high end, majority people would go with the first choice. Friends that visits me, all of them asking to play vinyl where my pre-amp/amp does the trick and switching to digital sounds emotionless. Sure where speed/pace is required my system would fail, but it's adjusted to my taste. It's the biggest myth in audio that high end is the best, then you can get caught up in numbers, waiting for release of "better" gear. It is so easy to find the sound that you love when the music takes the front seat, not the gear

 

[PhonoPhi]

Well I believe that if you did the listening test for musical/coloured signature and high end, majority people would go with the first choice. Friends that visits me, all of them asking to play vinyl where my pre-amp/amp does the trick and switching to digital sounds emotionless. Sure where speed/pace is required my system would fail, but it's adjusted to my taste. It's the biggest myth in audio that high end is the best, then you can get caught up in numbers, waiting for release of "better" gear. It is so easy to find the sound that you love when the music takes the front seat, not the gear

Thinking of conspiracy theories, I would not be sure that the makers of the high-end audio products did not figure this out long time ago and actively employ this, in fact, e.g. in enhancing pleasing harmonics and other "sound cooking" in some high-end audio players

 

[old tech]

Well I believe that if you did the listening test for musical/coloured signature and high end, majority people would go with the first choice. Friends that visits me, all of them asking to play vinyl where my pre-amp/amp does the trick and switching to digital sounds emotionless. Sure where speed/pace is required my system would fail, but it's adjusted to my taste. It's the biggest myth in audio that high end is the best, then you can get caught up in numbers, waiting for release of "better" gear. It is so easy to find the sound that you love when the music takes the front seat, not the gear

Your friends are different to mine. They are bemused if I play vinyl when I have more convenient digital options which have more sound clarity and realism than legacy formats. The emotion we feel comes from the actual music, not some placebo effect of clicks and pops with a record spinning in the background.

 

[hakunamakaka]

You sound like one of these ignorant folks that has their truth and that’s it...it’s obvious that added tube colouring/distortion on pre-amp/amp chain changes sound signature, even if I replace tubes you can sense the difference it’s not a voodo and you can’t deny it. there are old recordings which if not re-mastered you basically do not have other option, but I do collect new releases, only because I know it will sing through my turntable rig. Main point is if it’s not up to “high end” standards by numbers/ graphs it doesn’t mean it can’t be your high end sound. It’s a perception thing same as beauty, taste and hifi is nothing else as a human invented myth to trick people to chase that perfect sound or whatever underlying reason is. If you push it for a while masses will ride on it, generations will change, myths too and current hifi sound will be completely gone like that beauty icon of a fat woman which was completely rave in medieval age

 

[castleofargh]

918 pages of fighting against psy-fi voodoo and suddenly everybody agrees that all the measures of fidelity stand for nothing, tube amps are more musical and high fidelity is about hearing the guy on the 5th audience row cough at 5:32 or something. What the heck did I walk into?

I read the posts and was like: "Wait! you guys listen to music? Why am I always the last one to learn about those stuff?" ^_^
But it isn't all bad because thanks to this, I've just devised the second law of forum thermodynamics: Any 2 products or ideas in an isolated thread will tend to become mutually exclusive over time.

Main point is if it’s not up to “high end” standards by numbers/ graphs it doesn’t mean it can’t be your high end sound.

Depends on what you expect "high end" to be. To some it means HIFI, which is as objective as it gets. To some it just means overpriced stuff. To you it seems to be something that agrees best with your own taste. I guess it's a vague enough expression that we're fine having our own interpretations.