High fidelity, by definition, is the ability to reproduce music played by musicians in the most realistic way possible. It’s being able to put on your favorite music, close your eyes, and let yourself be transported by the music, as if it were being played in front of you, in your home. High fidelity is a passion that allows you to travel through sound.
Choosing a high-fidelity sound system that will fulfill this mandate is not necessarily an easy task. Selecting devices that will adapt to your tastes, expectations, and also your budget is possible. Choosing the right components may seem difficult at first, but it is above all a process filled with pleasure.
Environment
High fidelity is more than just arranging amplifiers and stereo speakers. A hi-fi system (from the English high fidelity ) is also about making the right choice of components for your listening room.
It is therefore essential to choose loudspeakers that are proportionate to the size of the listening room – and a good pair of loudspeakers, to give a quality result, must be supported by sustained and sufficient amplification.
For example, a compact stereo system, although perfect for a small room, will struggle to replicate the same performance in a large open-plan living room. To achieve the same level of listening experience, you will need to increase the volume of the amplifier. However, a less powerful amplifier placed in a large room will tend to saturate when asked to fill that space.
Conversely, a very powerful system with large speakers, such as multi-way columns, will not be suitable for a small room. The bass produced by large speakers will quickly become overwhelming before even reaching a high volume – in addition to covering the high and mid frequencies. The extremely low frequencies (35 Hz and below) will not be perceived in a small room but will be in adjacent rooms. In addition, to benefit from a good sound stage, large speakers will require sitting at a greater distance. There is therefore no reason to equip yourself with an oversized and overpowering system if the room does not allow it.
A system adapted to the size of the room will therefore allow you to enjoy high fidelity by offering a better-balanced sound. Adequate power will then allow you to optimally reproduce recordings as their creators intended them.
Performance Levels
Several criteria come into play when choosing your amplifier. As mentioned above, the size of the room and the size of our speakers are very important points to consider. Added to this will be the sensitivity of the speakers – we will come back to this a little later. But it is not only the power that should guide your choice of amplifier (or preamplifier/amplifier combo). It is essential to choose a model that will offer the appropriate connections for the use you want to make of it. All integrated amplifiers or preamplifiers will have analog RCA inputs, but some sources will require more specific connections. A PC-USB input to connect your computer to an amplifier equipped with a DAC (for Digital To Analog Converter – which will convert your digital sources to analog), optical or coaxial digital inputs to connect, for example, a CD player or the sound of a Blu-Ray player, a PHONO input for a turntable or, finally, balanced XLR inputs for more high-end audio sources. Some amplifiers will also have network or wireless capabilities. You can then connect your device to the network to listen to music available on a computer, on a NAS, or even online. Others will only allow you to pair a device via Bluetooth or Airplay.
The choice of a pair of speakers goes hand in hand with the choice of our amplifier. The speakers must adapt well to the amplifier to give optimized performance. The sensitivity of the speakers (or efficiency) and their impedance are crucial criteria.
First of all, the sensitivity (or sound pressure, expressed in decibels) determines the sound level given by a pair of speakers. The higher the sensitivity, the higher the volume level they will be able to offer without saturation or distortion. Concretely, a pair of speakers displaying a sensitivity of 92db will give a more efficient rendering and a higher perceived volume than a pair of speakers marked at 88db connected to the same amplifier with the same settings.
The impedance of a pair of speakers (expressed in ohms) has a direct influence on the power consumption of the amplifier. Most speakers on the market have an impedance of 8 ohms, but it is not uncommon to find speakers with different specifications. It is then important to select an amplifier capable of managing its speakers. For example, if we have a pair of speakers displaying an impedance of 4 ohms, we must connect them to an amplifier whose technical capabilities can manage this demand.
We must not forget the most essential part of listening to music: the sources! It is important to equip yourself with good components. It is the signal from these that will be amplified and deployed by your speakers. These are the basic ingredients of a good audio recipe.
Whether it is a good CD player or a network player ( streamer ), we will pay attention to the digital-to-analog conversion of the latter. A better quality device will give a more detailed and airy rendering. For example, the resolution of a compact disc is 16 bits, but a player capable of upsampling up to 24 bits will enlarge the sound spectrum and add additional depth to your music.
If we already have good sources that do not do upsampling, there is a solution to give them a facelift! A DAC ( Digital Analog Converter ) allows you to connect your devices digitally (optical, coaxial) and output an analog signal (RCA or XLR) to your amplifier while improving the sound quality by using better conversion of digital signals. It is also an efficient way to use digital sources with a 100% analog amplifier.
For many, an audio DAC will mainly serve as a link between a computer and the amplifier. It will then allow you to listen to the music contained in your music library. Connected via the PC-USB port of your audio DAC, the computer becomes a very high-quality music source. A good DAC will support all the main high-resolution ( lossless ) files. It will therefore allow you to listen to native 24-bit files, available online.
Finally, a good turntable will bring your vinyl records to life! Essentially, what we are looking for is a table capable of stopping vibrations – the number one enemy of listening to vinyl – coming from outside the turntable. In addition, a silent mechanism and a cartridge capable of capturing the music deep in the grooves will add to the good sound reproduction and listening pleasure.
The links in the chain
A good high-fidelity system is recognized by the good balance of all its components. Each of these (source, amplifier, speakers) must be used in such a way as to get the most out of their capabilities.
The choice of speakers may seem more important, especially because they are the last element of the chain and they will give a lot of personality to the final result. However, allocating too much of your total budget for the system to the speakers alone can be a mistake. You can have the best sound boxes on the planet, but without sufficient amplification, the result will be disappointing. More modest speakers with amplification of equivalent quality will be able to push your music optimally.
The quality of the source is essential. Listening to poor-quality MP3 files or using an entry-level DVD player as a CD player will not do justice to the music. Worse, a good amplifier and good speakers will highlight the defects of a bad source.
It is often said that a sound system is only as good as the weakest link in its chain. The watchword in the selection of hi-fi components will therefore remain “balance”. You can only benefit from it!
Cables and accessories
Interconnect and speaker cables carry the audio signal from the source to your amplifier (or preamp/amp combo) to the speakers. The purpose of a good cable is to pass the signal with the least possible damage to it. That’s why a cable with better conductivity and better construction will help improve the result of your entire hi-fi system. Someone can have the best hi-fi components, but if the weakest link in the chain (as we discussed above) is the cables that connect the source, amplifier, and speakers, the sound will be affected.
Adding a good quality power cable to a hi-fi unit will make a significant difference in the performance of your system. A high-quality cable with an insulating jacket will reject electromagnetic waves. This will ensure that clean power is sent to your audio components, free of polluting noise. A more detailed and lively sound will be the result, in addition to a reduction in background noise. Power management through a good noise-dissipating power strip will also greatly help.
Many types of accessories will help refine a hi-fi system down to the finest details. Whether we are talking about good speaker connectors (banana or spade connectors), Sorbothane gel feet to decouple your devices from your furniture, or simply covers for unused connectors of an amplifier (which will prevent the propagation of noise), all will contribute to improving the result and meeting the expectations of the most demanding audiophiles.
It is estimated that 10 to 15% of the total budget for purchasing a high-fidelity sound system should be allocated to cables and accessories.
Finally, although much more than a simple audio accessory, there is furniture designed to accommodate high-end hi-fi components. Mounted on spikes or via an elaborate suspension system, these pieces of furniture keep the devices physically decoupled from each other to eliminate any unwanted vibrations.
High-fidelity and home cinema
Some will say that high-fidelity only applies to stereo systems. This is not true! Movie lovers can have access to excellent 5.1 and 7.1 components capable of offering musical quality that rivals their two-channel stereo counterparts. Whether we are talking about high-end Blu-Ray players (with digital-to-analog converters of the same level as the best CD players) or cinema amplifiers, some manufacturers will make every effort to offer people who love music and movies as much impeccable sound quality. You should also know that all good cinema receivers have a function allowing two-channel stereo listening (left and right).
For music fans who want to connect their TV to their stereo system, there is no harm in listening to their favorite movies in two-channel mode! It is then possible to connect your video sources (TV decoder, Blu-Ray player) to a stereo amplifier.
It is also possible to connect your TV to an optical input of a stereo amplifier, but these cannot decode 5.1 signals. Optical outputs on televisions will also create a delay (a gap between the image and the sound) that can be annoying when watching a film or a TV show. Some TV models have settings that can overcome this problem.
There are also stereo amplifier models that can manage video sources via HDMI connections, just like on a multichannel cinema amplifier. No more worries!
Budget
Whatever the budget allocated to the purchase of a high-fidelity system, the number one rule to remember remains the balance between the components. Spending huge sums does not guarantee an optimal result. A well-matched and adequate arrangement of components is the key to a quality result.
High-fidelity stereo devices are much less exposed to major technological changes than some products in other technological fields. With no risk of becoming obsolete, hi-fi components can be a great long-term purchase, or even an investment for some high-end, high-profile products.
Questions/Answers
Can I come to the store to listen to hi-fi systems?
Of course! We have a large selection of products from all ranges on display in store. Our expert advisors will be happy to have you listen to the different systems and will offer you sound and personalized advice. You are welcome to bring your music!
I have an old amplifier that still works well, can I pair it with a new pair of speakers?
Absolutely. By consulting the specifications of your amplifier, it will be possible to find new speakers that are perfect for your amplifier. You don’t have access to the specifications of your device? With the model number and the brand, the internet is a gold mine of information!
Same thing if you already have a good pair of speakers and you want to find a new amplifier.
What is the advantage of connecting my computer to an audio DAC rather than using the headphone jack to an analog RCA auxiliary input of my system?
There are two major advantages.
First, the audio converter of a conventional personal computer is rather poor quality. The sound quality, once amplified, will be thin and the sound image will be extremely reduced. By using an audio DAC, the computer converter will not be used and it is the DAC that handles the entire digital audio processing.
Second, the headphone output of your computer is variable. It is therefore controlled with its own volume control. Once amplified, an output volume that is too low will give a weak and lifeless sound and a volume that is too loud will result in saturation and distortion. An audio DAC takes the signal unaffected by a computer volume control and sends a fixed signal that is well-adjusted and clean to your amplifier, from where you will control the volume.
Is it possible to add a subwoofer to a stereo amplifier?
Yes. Some stereo amplifiers have a ” SUB ” output to connect a subwoofer.
What About the installation?
Yes, AMPReviews has partnered with the best team of experts, capable of making your projects a reality, no matter the scale. We connect you with top service providers tailored to your needs. Contact us for more information on our flexible schedules and competitive rates.
