High-end audio is a class of consumer
home audio
Home audio refer to audio consumer electronics designed for home entertainment, such as integrated systems like shelf stereos, as well as individual components like loudspeakers and surround sound receivers.
The evolution of home audio began ...
equipment marketed to
audiophile
An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...
s on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the components, or to the subjective or objective quality of sound reproduction.
Definition
The distinction between the terms ''high end'' and ''
high fidelity
High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...
'' is not well defined. According to one industry commentator, high-end could be defined as, "Gear below which's price and performance one could not go without compromising the music and the sound."
[Szabady, Paul (January 2008)]
"The Rega P3-24 Turntable"
''Stereo Times''
Archived
from the original on 21 November 2013 Harry Pearson, founder of ''
The Absolute Sound'' magazine, is widely acknowledged to have coined the term ''high-end audio''.
Costs
High-end audio equipment can be extremely expensive. It is sometimes referred to as ''cost-no-object'' equipment.
Audiophile
An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...
equipment can encompass the full range from budget to high-end in terms of price.
Fidelity assessment
The fidelity of sound reproduction may be assessed
aurally or using
audio system measurements
Audio system measurements are used to quantify audio system performance. These measurements are made for several purposes. Designers take measurements to specify the performance of a piece of equipment. Maintenance engineers make them to ensur ...
.
The human sense of hearing is subjective and difficult to define.
Psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the branch of psychophysics involving the scientific study of the perception of sound by the human auditory system. It is the branch of science studying the psychological responses associated with sound including noise, speech, ...
is a division of acoustics that studies this field.
Measurements can be deceiving; high or low figures of certain technical characteristics do not necessarily offer a good representation of how the equipment sounds to each person. For example, some
valve (vacuum tube) amplifiers produce greater amounts of
total harmonic distortion
The total harmonic distortion (THD or THDi) is a measurement of the harmonic distortion present in a signal and is defined as the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic components to the power of the fundamental frequency. Distortion facto ...
, but this type of distortion (2nd harmonic) is not as disturbing to the ear as the higher-order distortions produced by poorly designed transistor equipment.
The validity of certain products is often questioned. These include accessories such as
speaker wire
Speaker wire is used to make the electrical connection between loudspeakers and audio amplifiers. Modern speaker wire consists of two or more electrical conductors individually Electrical insulation, insulated by plastic (such as polyvinyl chlor ...
s utilizing exotic materials (such as
oxygen-free copper
Oxygen-free copper (OFC) or oxygen-free high thermal conductivity (OFHC) copper is a group of wrought high-conductivity copper alloys that have been electrolytically refined to reduce the level of oxygen to 0.001% or below.
Oxygen-free copper ...
) and construction geometries, cable stands for lifting them off the floor (as a way to control mechanically induced vibrations), connectors, sprays and other tweaks.
See also
*
Audio noise measurement
*
Broadcast quality Broadcast quality is a term to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors (TBC) used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition. As the standards for commercial television broadcasts have chang ...
*
Professional audio
Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high-quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mus ...
* ''
Stereophile
''Stereophile'' is a monthly American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news.
History
''Stereophile'' was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt. With the August 1 ...
'', ''
The Absolute Sound'';
hi-fi+;
[ hifiplus.com ] high-end home audio magazines
References
{{Audio players
Audio players
Consumer electronics