The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language defines ‘high fidelity’ as the reproduction of sound with little distortion, giving a result very similar to the original.
In this case ‘distortion’ doesn’t mean noise, it means any change to the original
IIn this reprint of a 2019 KEF Blog article, we examine excatly what Hiigh-Fidelity is.
In this case ‘distortion’ doesn’t mean noise, it means any change to the original
IIn this reprint of a 2019 KEF Blog article, we examine excatly what Hiigh-Fidelity is.
Mary Had A Little Lamb
On November 21, 1877, Thomas Edison announced the invention of a machine to record and playback sound. The first recording in human history was Edison reciting Mary Had A Little Lamb into his new contraption. One hundred years later, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was in its 182nd week on the US Album Charts.
To the tiny number of people who were suddenly able to hear Edison’s recordings, the phonograph was an amazing technical advance, and for the first few years of its existence the phonograph was thought of as strictly a dictation machine. Until then, in all of human history, sound was ethereal, transient and lived on solely in the memory of the listener.
From 1877 to 1948, fidelity was not a consideration – the fact the recording existed at all was the big deal. From 1948 through the 1950s, audio technology experienced an unprecedented explosion that wouldn’t be rivaled until the first decade of the 21st Century. Amplifier technology, loudspeaker design all vastly improved and reel-to-reel tape and the vinyl LP were all introduced in the decade after World War Two. The era of home audio was upon us: For the first time in history, music was a personal experience and not strictly a communal one.
On November 21, 1877, Thomas Edison announced the invention of a machine to record and playback sound. The first recording in human history was Edison reciting Mary Had A Little Lamb into his new contraption. One hundred years later, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was in its 182nd week on the US Album Charts.
To the tiny number of people who were suddenly able to hear Edison’s recordings, the phonograph was an amazing technical advance, and for the first few years of its existence the phonograph was thought of as strictly a dictation machine. Until then, in all of human history, sound was ethereal, transient and lived on solely in the memory of the listener.
From 1877 to 1948, fidelity was not a consideration – the fact the recording existed at all was the big deal. From 1948 through the 1950s, audio technology experienced an unprecedented explosion that wouldn’t be rivaled until the first decade of the 21st Century. Amplifier technology, loudspeaker design all vastly improved and reel-to-reel tape and the vinyl LP were all introduced in the decade after World War Two. The era of home audio was upon us: For the first time in history, music was a personal experience and not strictly a communal one.
The Birth of Hi-Fi
In the late 1940s, the RCA Victor company (the Apple and Microsoft of its day) performed experiments with people who listened to high-quality recordings through a series of variable filters that changed the ‘fidelity’ of the sound. Every listener preferred the cleaner, more accurate sound over any level of introduced distortion or noise. For the first time, there was objective proof that human beings preferred good sound over bad sound – a notion that induces face palms of obviousness today but was a paradigm shifting discovery at the time.
In the mid-1950s, ‘high fidelity’ became a marketing term that described audio reproduction of higher quality than the 78rpm acetate records that had ruled the consumer audio market since the 1920s. We’ve been arguing over what exactly ‘hi-fi’ is ever since.
Suddenly, along with the television, the home ‘hi-fi set’ became the status seekers’ must-have. To the general consumer, ‘hi-fi’ meant expensive equipment that was more status symbol than simple audio setup. To the discerning music fan ‘hi-fi’ was elevated gear that did a superior job of replicating the sound, scope and power of a musical passage. Today, the term ‘hi-fi’ may seem antiquated but there’s little difference between the early days and today.
In the late 1940s, the RCA Victor company (the Apple and Microsoft of its day) performed experiments with people who listened to high-quality recordings through a series of variable filters that changed the ‘fidelity’ of the sound. Every listener preferred the cleaner, more accurate sound over any level of introduced distortion or noise. For the first time, there was objective proof that human beings preferred good sound over bad sound – a notion that induces face palms of obviousness today but was a paradigm shifting discovery at the time.
In the mid-1950s, ‘high fidelity’ became a marketing term that described audio reproduction of higher quality than the 78rpm acetate records that had ruled the consumer audio market since the 1920s. We’ve been arguing over what exactly ‘hi-fi’ is ever since.
Suddenly, along with the television, the home ‘hi-fi set’ became the status seekers’ must-have. To the general consumer, ‘hi-fi’ meant expensive equipment that was more status symbol than simple audio setup. To the discerning music fan ‘hi-fi’ was elevated gear that did a superior job of replicating the sound, scope and power of a musical passage. Today, the term ‘hi-fi’ may seem antiquated but there’s little difference between the early days and today.
What Exactly Is Hi-Fi?
Technically, ‘hi-fi’ describes a component or series of components that do a quality job of reproducing music. Here’s the catch though, what we think of today as doing a ‘quality job of reproducing music’ is almost entirely different than it was even twenty-five years ago, forget sixty years ago!
Socially, as we emerge from the lo-fi world of fascination with listening to music on our phones ‘hi-fi’ is once again becoming understood as a luxury that makes our lives better. ‘Hi-fi’ has always had a connotation of expense and exclusivity, but like luxury cars, nice furniture and a decent vacation, ‘expensive’ is relative – we don’t mind paying a premium for things that make our lives more enjoyable. The difference today is decent sounding music is so pervasive we sometimes forget the simple human joy of hearing a really good audio system.
At KEF, ‘high-fidelity’ means the same thing now as it did in 1961: The purest possible audio reproduction through concentrated technical research. For us ‘hi-fi’ is a mission statement.
Technically, ‘hi-fi’ describes a component or series of components that do a quality job of reproducing music. Here’s the catch though, what we think of today as doing a ‘quality job of reproducing music’ is almost entirely different than it was even twenty-five years ago, forget sixty years ago!
Socially, as we emerge from the lo-fi world of fascination with listening to music on our phones ‘hi-fi’ is once again becoming understood as a luxury that makes our lives better. ‘Hi-fi’ has always had a connotation of expense and exclusivity, but like luxury cars, nice furniture and a decent vacation, ‘expensive’ is relative – we don’t mind paying a premium for things that make our lives more enjoyable. The difference today is decent sounding music is so pervasive we sometimes forget the simple human joy of hearing a really good audio system.
At KEF, ‘high-fidelity’ means the same thing now as it did in 1961: The purest possible audio reproduction through concentrated technical research. For us ‘hi-fi’ is a mission statement.
By Jack Sharkey for KEF
