Evolution of name for our hobby: Is "High Fidelity" dead? "High end" a better name?

[caesar]

Back in the day, it was about high fidelity. But the something happened along the way. Whatever was called high fidelity sounded thin and skeletal. High fidelity gear sounded as emotional as a Teutonic wet nurse.

( if someone has a better handle on the history, please fill it in.)

While Valin in the Absolute Sound has called Magico " high fidelity", Harley was afraid to use those words in calling the q7 the greatest speaker of all time, fearing the negative connotation.

Is "high fidelity" dead as a name for our hobby? is "high end" a better name, as it connotes the luxury in life to be able to listen to gear engineered to sound like real music?

 

[Robh3606]

High Fidelity to the source, makes a lot more sense than High End. What exactly does High End mean?? High End can mean damn near anything you want where High Fidelity means only one. As far as I am concerned that is the disconnnect it's not about Fidelity to the source any more it's more about keeping up the with the Jones and impressing the neighbors and bragging rights.

Rob

 

[JonFo]

To me, this hobby is all about High Fidelity to what the artist intended to convey to their audience. For instance my favorite artist, Steven Wilson records in super high-resolution surround, so my audio setup is designed to give as 'High a fidelity' to his recordings as I can muster at the time.

High End is almost a pejorative term to me, as I associate it with excessively priced and ornate (no sonic performance) gear that is mostly 'bling' and whose sonic performance can usually be equaled or surpassed by much lower-cost gear.

Sure, there will always be uber-expensive pieces that truly deliver unique value, but I find they are few and far-between, as much of the 'High End' is focused on capturing the luxury buyer, not the true audiophile.