All that is wrong with "HiFi"

This is a subject that has driven me crazy, especially since the obsessive drive for more "detail" has risen to insane proportions. But the departure from "musically correct" reproduction didn't begin there.

No. It actually began with the use of high feedback in the pursuit of vanishingly low harmonic distortion. This inturn led to the focus of designing solely by numbers as a dominating criteria instead of listening to what truly sounds good, and what doesn't. This has proven to be a mistake time and time again, but few have seemed to learn from it.

What I hear when I listen to the majority of modern hifi components and systems is a bright, hard and fatiguing presentation, often bordering on severe stridency while being harmonically distorted and/or threadbare, and noticeably lacking in musically engaging qualities. What you end up with is an over-hyped sonic microscope that is overly detailed and brutally revealing of everything that is wrong with the recording.

The problem compounding this is that nearly all of the so-called hifi components that I have heard over the last 40 years clearly displays one or more of the above traits to the level of distraction, especially since the majority of them often possess distorted and/or unrefined high frequencies. You may not be able to hear it as well as I do, but I am really sensitive to it.

To sum up this rant, I would like to say that I am looking to form a conglomerate of audio-oriented manufacturing associates with the goal of producing more musically correct components at reasonable prices.

 

I think what drives me personally and many others is the journey. I love two aspects of the hifi journey:

1. The increasing performance of gear over time. It’s fascinating to me how small changes can bring significant improvements in realism.

2. Having like-minded friends that I can discuss this with, hang out with, and occasionally disagree with. Friends to go to trade shows with, visit dealer events with, and educate younger family with on the joys of better music reproduction.

It’s a very satisfying and rich hobby. I’m always meeting new people and learning something.

The love of music and the ability to appreciate beauty seems to have been lost by too many people in audio. I think most have lost their ability to just enjoy
One man’s opinion

 

Personally, I don't think this is possible. There are way many variables to consider.

Tom

I have a recipe for PRaT that works for me. I started in the seventies and finished it in the mid-eighties. But it is very complex. Even the basic formula to begin matching components is too complex for any audio site I’ve ever seen.

One thing it doesn’t consider is the decline in my hearing over the last forty years.

 

That's terrible. Please consider my sincerest condolences to you and yours.

Tom

She didn’t die thank goodness but had seven broken ribs and four broken vertebrae. Full recovery but a long rehabilitation.

All PeterA’s and others deleted, edited and still here posts illustrate one the problems of HiFi, people. They all say I was trying to be funny, joking, ironic, whatever. It’s part of the audiophile attitude that reflects badly on the rest of you.

 

I think what drives me personally and many others is the journey. I love two aspects of the hifi journey:

1. The increasing performance of gear over time. It’s fascinating to me how small changes can bring significant improvements in realism.

2. Having like-minded friends that I can discuss this with, hang out with, and occasionally disagree with. Friends to go to trade shows with, visit dealer events with, and educate younger family with on the joys of better music reproduction.

It’s a very satisfying and rich hobby. I’m always meeting new people and learning something.

Of course, some of your like-minded friends are a problem in HiFi. Those MQA supporters really need to go.

 

Here is what my 400€ speakers (+100€ to upgrade crossover components) produce - FWIW on a YouTube video made with a google phone - and I must say I find it "musical"

The more I work on my room's acoustics (ceiling panels are for test purposes), the better it gets. No surprises here... especially when you live in a concrete box...

 

One thing it doesn’t consider is the decline in my hearing over the last forty years.

Of course, some of your like-minded friends are a problem in HiFi. Those MQA supporters really need to go.

I feel like these posts are related.

 

Of course, some of your like-minded friends are a problem in HiFi. Those MQA supporters really need to go.

True, but MQA already seems more or less kaput. Finally. Thankfully.

 

Its obvious the magazines need a DOME

Depart of magazine efficiency

 

Its obvious the magazines need a DOME

Depart of magazine efficiency

MMGA!

 

MMGA!

Whats that ?



SOS Sets Only Sir

 

Whats that ?

Make Magazines Great Again, a play on MAGA.

SOS Sets Only Sir

Hehe. I can't send out that SOS, but that's perfectly fine with me. I don't need to be "rescued". Instead I enjoy my music. Music may be better than sex, but it doesn't make me horny, if you know what I mean.

 

I feel like these posts are related.

Lee, I had no trouble hearing what was wrong with MQA at age 62. Things MQA supporters missed.

It is fundamentally dishonest to deny hearing declines as people age.

 

True, but MQA already seems more or less kaput. Finally. Thankfully.

Yes, MQA seems to be finally leaving the market. But we need to hold MQA supporters accountable for their poor judgement and hearing.

 

Yes, MQA seems to be finally leaving the market. But we need to hold MQA supporters accountable for their poor judgement and hearing.

For mastering, I never bought the equipment to encode MQA... Didn't hear anything I liked about it....

 

Yes, MQA seems to be finally leaving the market. But we need to hold MQA supporters accountable for their poor judgement and hearing.

True. Maybe forgive, but never forget. Whatever his detractors may say, Robert Harley did write several very good and insightful reviews over the years. However, with his embrace of MQA as revolutionary paradigm shift for the better, rather than recognizing it for the fraud that it is, he has tons of egg on his face. John Atkinson does too when it comes to MQA. I think MQA has exposed some deep rot in the audio reviewing community. If reviews overall were hard to be trusted before, the whole MQA affair made it even harder.

 

I don't need to be "rescued".

Thats what you think but thats not what SET lovers think .
In their eyes your simply a denier who will see the light eventually

 

Thats what you think but thats not what SET lovers think .
In their eyes your simply a denier who will see the light eventually

You are also a denier who will eventually see the light...

 

You are also a denier who will eventually see the light...

There is only one light , and im looking at it on a daily basis

 

plese excuse my ignorance here. But, my extremely limited exposure to live mic feeds while recording and how they relate to sitting, say, 12th-row center, is that the mic feed is great for capturing the musicians up close and personal but not so great in the context of an audience member.

But why do you refer to your experience then instead of listening to the recordings of Decca etc engineers with their mics

 

My nephew is into electronics, knows a great deal more about it than I, and sent me the following video for reasons that elude me. The video is of a damaged phono stage being diagnosed and repaired. The phono stage is by Tom Evans Audio Design and is called the "Master Groove". The repairman says/claims that it sells for £25,000.00 (his SR on his web page does).

As I said, I do not know much about electronics but looking at the device as he diagrams it out and finds the fault, I am not sure what the price entails. I think build cost is mostly in the pretty box that it comes in.

Please, those who understand electronics, have a gander at this YouTube video and let me know if you think the design/parts warrant the price or not. If not, then the pretty casement is the most expensive part and is where I think HiFi has gone astray.

Tom Evans "MasterGroove"