I was reading an interview w/ Radiohead. They released an album online before it hit the stores, and let people pay whatever they wanted for it. Some people complained because the quality of the mp3's was relatively low.
Then someone in Radiohead says,
"Hi-fi really annoys me. hi-fi is just about middle-aged man trying to make music sound as good as it did when they were teenagers, and it never will. They'll never be as excited as they were when they first heard that music coming out of just one speaker." Then the person who said that sheepishly smiles, and it comes out that they have a really nice hi-fi system and spend a lot of time and money constantly upgrading the system.
It's always good to be able to laugh at yourself.
Then someone in Radiohead says,
"Hi-fi really annoys me. hi-fi is just about middle-aged man trying to make music sound as good as it did when they were teenagers, and it never will. They'll never be as excited as they were when they first heard that music coming out of just one speaker." Then the person who said that sheepishly smiles, and it comes out that they have a really nice hi-fi system and spend a lot of time and money constantly upgrading the system.
It's always good to be able to laugh at yourself.
dhaen said:
I tend to agree. My first Hi-Fi experience occurred when I was a child. I built a rough wooden cabinet for a 12 inch speaker I had found and added another small speaker in parallel through a capacitor. (no math, just a crude two way system). When I connected the speaker cabinet to a wooden Philco table radio I had, I was amazed at the great sound improvement. That first quantum leap in sound quality impressed me more back then, then the megabuck systems I've heard as an adult.
Victor
Except that myself and many others were , in our youth, listening to those songs on really good hi-fi gear. I remember a lot of good parties with loud rock and roll blaring from my homemade Klipschorns when I was in my late teens. What annoys me about hi-fi is that it never helped me attract pretty girls into my bedroom.
John
LOL!
My first speaker (not even that) was 5 (!) Pioneer car speakers wired in parallel, mounted onto a vertical piece of hardboard; no enclosure. This was powered by a Sanyo "3000mW"(!) portable tape player. Today I know why it sounded so good, and marvel at the Sanyo's ability to drive that load.
He's 100% right about that, but it doesn't have very much to do with nostalgic old farts trying to relive their glory days. As with everything else, it's not any one thing, but an unfortunate synergy of different factors. In a great many ways, solid state and digital have been gigantic steps backwards where sonic performance is concerned. A lot of this equipment naturally sounds lousey. But that's what the majority of the music-buying public uses, and they would never recognize good sound because they've never heard it. So the sound engineers try to compensate for equipment deficiencies when they master the studio recordings. With digital tech, the possibilities have become quite endless, almost to the point where you hardly need musicians at all, and playing those recordings on equipment like we design and build lets every sonic defect come through, loud and clear.
I'm still amazed at just how bad a downloaded mp3, or a store-bought CD for that matter, can sound when played through a VT amp that simply gets out of the way. All those unintentional and engineered defects come through, loud and clear. Doesn't do any good to have folks hear that and wonder why the amp sounds so
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when it isn't the amp, but the recording! But guess where they lay the blame? 
Here's a whole article about this very thing: The Death of High Fidelity. Six pages' worth. Read 'em and weep.
HiFi?
Hey dudes.
I dont think the words HiFi and MP3 should appear in the same sentence in any circumstance.
The conundrum is that I quite like Radiohead..
Hi Fi Hi Fi.. now lets see..
I always equate hi fi to looking at a work of art. You dont want sunglasses, fog or mesh to adulterate the painters work. Sure you can make out its a painting (MP3) but it lacks all of the nuances that set it apart.
Since my HiFi era, and in particular since I stumbled into tubes, I have never seen the painting more clear. Now with every preamp i prototype, the goal is immutable.
I dont aspire to the "wank" factor. I think topologies and layout determine quality. You cant put a silver in paper magic bullet cap in a bad amp and make it sound good.
So does my music come close to actuality.. yep.
Thats Hi Fi.
As for Radiohead being looneys, well people think I am a bit of a looney.. I am different. Arent you all, else you wouldnt be in here. You would be on facebook.
Remember if you are unusual and rich you are eccentric but if you are unusual and poor.. well you are mad
Ps. I notice even my dogs come and hang out with music playing..
The duder
Hey dudes.
I dont think the words HiFi and MP3 should appear in the same sentence in any circumstance.
The conundrum is that I quite like Radiohead..
Hi Fi Hi Fi.. now lets see..
I always equate hi fi to looking at a work of art. You dont want sunglasses, fog or mesh to adulterate the painters work. Sure you can make out its a painting (MP3) but it lacks all of the nuances that set it apart.
Since my HiFi era, and in particular since I stumbled into tubes, I have never seen the painting more clear. Now with every preamp i prototype, the goal is immutable.
I dont aspire to the "wank" factor. I think topologies and layout determine quality. You cant put a silver in paper magic bullet cap in a bad amp and make it sound good.
So does my music come close to actuality.. yep.
Thats Hi Fi.
As for Radiohead being looneys, well people think I am a bit of a looney.. I am different. Arent you all, else you wouldnt be in here. You would be on facebook.
Remember if you are unusual and rich you are eccentric but if you are unusual and poor.. well you are mad
Ps. I notice even my dogs come and hang out with music playing..
The duder
Dennis5587 said:I'm 20... does that mean I don't belong in here?
I like Hi-Fi, because it can better emulate the concerts that I currently still go to
despotic931 said:
It's good to be young.
I'm only 22 and I feel bad for my dad who is starting to loose that sensitivity to high frequency.
Not fun to listen to speakers after he EQs them.
= Ear- Status
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