What is Hi-Fi, Mid-Fi, and Low-Fi ???

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by RonW, Apr 15, 2014.

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  1. razerx

    razerx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sonoma California
    I thought Hi Fidelity means something that can reproduce sound accurately? By that definition you can have expense Lo Fi equipment that colors the sound so it is pleasing but inaccurate.
     
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  2. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    As I see it the most natural sound and also most pleasing is live acoustic sound. There is no possible way to reproduce this sound accurate, what can be done is producing it more or less accurate. That is why I think of reproduced sound as different shades of grey, and you can pick the shade you like the most. In principle, I see no way to produce this natural sound more pleasing than it naturally is.
     
  3. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    The terms are notional, variable and on occasion nonsensical.
     
  4. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    This is High Fidelity:

     
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  5. allnoyz

    allnoyz Forum Resident

    Lo-Fi: The crap the other guy has that you'd never waste your money on, nor step foot in the store he bought it from.

    Hi-Fi: What you think you own.

    Mid-Fi: What you actually own.
     
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  6. RonW

    RonW Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Having read through this and also having examined the true definition of "Hi-Fidelity" or "Hi Fi", it appears that the terms Mid-Fi and Low-Fi really have no meaning or place relative to what Hi-Fidelity actually is.

    I see that confirmed in many posts I have read. Anyways, thanks for the many varied responses as I now see where this is all coming from.

    Ron
     
  7. jh901

    jh901 Forum Resident

    Location:
    PARRISH FL USA
    You may be correct as to "the letter", but I though that, perhaps, "the spirit" of the inquiry was to investigate how those terms might be used to refer to different levels of audio gear (and their relative capability to resolve musical detail). I suggested earlier that none of us are calibrated with one another, so it's not easy to nail this down. We sometimes use the term "mid-fi" to refer to gear that is not quite capable of gear that we think of as able to deliver appreciably greater fidelity. Denon/Polk is a mid-fi example. That's the level of gear that most of us first strived for. Some vintage gear would now fall into this category. There is nothing inherently wrong with this gear. It is designed to a price point and some is better that others, but the next step up should represent quite an impressive leap. So yeah, money is involved. Save up. Buy better gear. My journey has been ongoing in fits and starts for over 20 years. Some aren't interested in a "journey" of this nature. Some have other priorities. Some perhaps don't have the savings (or credit). No big deal. It's not a competition.
     
  8. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    I'm with Steve that Hi-Fi is not about money. And I still maintain that "mid-fi" is a purely pejorative term.

    When I think "hi-fi", this guy is not the first thing that comes to my mind:

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Alice Wonder

    Alice Wonder Active Member

    Location:
    Redding, CA
    I believe there was an attempt to standardize hi-fi at one point, e.g. equipment could only carry a logo if it met certain specs - but it didn't catch on.
     
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  10. RonW

    RonW Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    I'm not sure how money entered the discussion but I do agree it has no place.
     
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  11. jh901

    jh901 Forum Resident

    Location:
    PARRISH FL USA
    Speakers and electronics capable of the highest fidelity costs more than entry level hi-fi gear, so this is used as a red herring or other logical fallacy with the intent of shaming those who dare invest more than a given, "acceptable" amount. So yeah, in that contect, money has no place.
     
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  12. Alice Wonder

    Alice Wonder Active Member

    Location:
    Redding, CA
    It's also not just about the audio. Brand new there are many cables where I can't tell the difference. 3 years later it may easy because cheaper ones have started failing. And not just cables, things like cheaper capacitors in electronics may do the job fine brand new but have a high failure rate within a 2 year period.

    Build quality is important too.
     
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  13. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    lofi: mono
    midfi: stereo
    hifi: surround
    :D:D
     
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  14. ElizabethH

    ElizabethH Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE Wisconsin,USA
    lofi: MP3
    midfi: CD
    hifi: LP playback/High resolution files
     
  15. Beattles

    Beattles Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    HiFi was originally Mono!!!
     
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  16. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    I must admit I have never used the terms low-fi, mid-fi, not until this thread, and I will after this never use them again. Hi-fi is in reality an old standard, which I have used, now long forgotten and without any meaning today.
     
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  17. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    lofi: no sense of humour
    midfi: some sense of humour
    hifi: complete sense of humour

    :D = kidding
     
  18. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    I could jump all over your use of was.
    This Was in mono by Jethro Tull = excellent
     
  19. ElizabethH

    ElizabethH Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE Wisconsin,USA
    lofi: Folks for whom music is what is played in elevators and shopping malls. background noise.
    midfi: Folks for whom music is what you play in the car while going someplace. Or to wake up to with the clock radio. Or is a sountrack to a movie .. to help the movie along..

    hifi: Folks who have dedicated listening systems and try to listen to music whenever they can
     
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  20. wgriel

    wgriel Forum Resident

    Location:
    bc, canada
    I kind of like this - I don't think it has much to do with budget, but rather intent. Someone that loves music and cares about sound quality is into hifi, even if that's expressed by a used pair of Paradigm Atoms paired with a decent receiver.
     
  21. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Word.
     
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  22. RonW

    RonW Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    I have this feeling I should get out of here...
     
  23. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    :laugh: too true
     
  24. RonW

    RonW Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    I guess this thread just wasn't up to the standards here.

    Goodbye everyone.

    Ron
     
  25. OnTheRoad

    OnTheRoad Not of this world

    Just remember....you can tune a piano, but you can't tunafish !!!!!

    hey...that reminds me....:whistle:

    Are Paradigm Focus and an Onkyo receiver ok too ?

    [​IMG] :hide:
     
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