Definition of "too Hi-Fi"

before responding it needs to be pointed out that music is valid in any form or format....one man's noise is many times another man's pleasure. as you travel down the road of the pursuit of the ultimate music reproduction experience you do go thru a few stages and even diverging paths. lableing one path 'hifi' and another 'music' becomes in many ways a matter of taste and preference.

now that i have hopefully stated the politically correct obvious qualifier.....here is my view on what "too Hi-Fi" means.

"too Hi-Fi" means that the sonic performance is more about the various components of what adds up to music reproduction as opposed to a clear view to the musical event and the emotional pull and level of involvement that 'clear view' might entail.

"Hi-Fi" can be a positive term applied to any gear that presents a good amount of musical information; more information typically being better than less. more bass, deeper bass extention, more mid-range detail, extended high frequencies, big bass slam....these are all potentially good things.

OTOH if those individual sonic attributes do not come together as involving music that get you close to the musical event then we label that as "too Hi-Fi".

some might label all solid state amplification, or anything other than horns with single drivers, or maybe even all digital music as "too Hi-Fi"...and for them it just might be. it does become a matter of one's sonic biases as much as anything objective.

for me personally; any time i am drawn to a particular aspect of the sound; as opposed to the musical message....then the system is approaching that "too Hi-Fi" threshold. i have heard modest systems with marginal resolution that were extremely musical and involving....OTOH i have heard many very expensive systems with lots of resolution that were borderline unlistenable and "too HiFi" (including my own at certain times).

I agree the the term 'too hi fi' cannot be understood if taken too literally. To me, it means certain incidental sounds in the recording, be it studio or live, come to dominate or distract from the notes and rhythms of the instrument or voice.

Some find it exciting to hear every cough from the audience in a jazz cafe, the louder squeak of calloused fingers on a fret and string, the hum of feedback in a guitar amp in the studio, the sound of rosin on a bow drawn across a string, the gasping in-breath by a singer etc. I've heard systems where these non-musical (in my opinion) incidental noises can be magnified artificially at the expense of the music; that which the composer intended.

Those who delight in such effects, feel they bring a sense of 'realness' to the recorded performance. They are welcome to them, of course.

That is my working definition of 'too hi fi'

cheers,
-paul-

Both good responses above. If I was to try and crystalize or simplify, ("too high-fi" being the antithesis of the responses above) I'd say that "too high-fi" tends to draw your attention to the parts, as opposed to the whole musical experience, thereby substantially reducing its visceral and emotional impact. The "whole" is what it's all about in terms of communicating to you. The parts are incidental. "Too high-fi" is about the parts.

For me, it suggests a component or speaker that is striking because of its resolution and detail, but that precisely because of those characteristics, imparts an unnatural, and thus undesirable, sound. Early vintage Wilson speakers, and Halcro and Spectral amps, are good examples (I'm not saying that these examples are "too fi-fi" -- each person's hearing is different -- but many people believe they are).