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What is Hifi? Does it have to be expensive and cumbersome ?

What is Hifi? Does it have to be expensive and cumbersome ?

Hifi, a quick search on the internet from Wikipedia: “High fidelity –  or hi-fi or hifi  – reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts (audiophiles) to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the intended frequency range.”
 
The musicality aspect of hifi performance is referring to performance on the basic elements of music in relation to what live music really sounds like. There are specific terms that are used to define the basic elements of music, like timbre (the unique ‘voices’ of instruments), tone color(chordal variations resulting from adding additional pitches to three-tone triads), melody (a combination of pitch and rhythm in sequences that are musically pleasing, or more simply, the tune you ‘whistle while you work’), harmony (treble & bass accompaniments to the melody), rhythm (the steady beat that determines the tempo), tempo (speed), and dynamics (variations in loudness), for example.
Basically, the use of a Hi-Fi system is to make the audio sound more authentic and real. Building your first hi-fi system? what you’ll need to include in your first high-quality sound system are Hi-Fi sources, amplifier, speakers and cables. Many audiophiles focus on headphones or earbuds and portable players because unlike a speaker system, the sound isn’t affected by the acoustics of the room, leading to a much more consistent listening experience. And it is very convenient to enjoy good audio whenever and wherever possible. However, there’s also a sense of instrument separation and soundstage that is much less convincing on closed-back headphones than on speakers, so open-backed headphones are very popular among audiophiles who demand the most authentic audio experience possible.   
With that said, we wouldn’t recommend any average user to spend as much on audio as audio enthusiasts do. You probably won’t hear the difference. But if you get a decent pair of headphones or earbuds with portable players, you will experience much better audio with a relatively mild price tag. Good audio isn’t that expensive, and the difference between bad audio and good audio is breathtaking.    
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