Fidelity


I am trying to learn to ask questions, so I am asking this.Do high fidelity and accuracy mean the same thing to you, and do how do they really rate in your overall enjoyment of music? To me fidelity used to mean real to life until I realized I didnt really know what that meant. I have not heard that many live instruments or live performers. Then, I do not really know what an engineer or artist intended a recording to sound like either. Most of the time I am pretty happy just to listen to a recording and take it as is. I like or I dont. But this question of fidelity puzzles me. If this is an ignorant question I dont mind saying there is a lot I dont know.
timf

Showing 1 response by johnrob

Some thoughts

Webster's dictionary indicates that one of the definitions of "fidelity" is:

EXACTNESS
The degree to which an electronic device (as a record player, radio, or television) accurately reproduces its effect (as sound or picture).

The definition of "high" includes:

1. constituting the .... most fully developed
2 : rich in quality : LUXURIOUS
3 : of greater degree, amount, cost, value, or content than average, usual, or expected

High fidelity, then, seems to be ability to very accurately reproduce music to the highest degree, but it also suggests an element of quality and development.

Both of the lines of thought in this thread seem to be true; that is, high fidelity is accurate reproduction of sound and it has an element of enjoyment as well.

The questions that arise out of this include;

Does more accurate reproduction of music lead to greater enjoyment? (I'll put this question in as another thread)

Would Reubent enjoy music that is "low fidelity"?