“The original proposition and purpose of hi-fi has all but gone. That is except for a hard core among audio enthusiasts, who are still making tiny incremental changes to a component audio system seeking the ultimate sound, adopting higher and higher resolution replay sources.

High-fidelity audio — or hi-fi, for short — is audio that's reproduced from the original recording with as high a degree of exactness as possible. Short of staging a live show or concert in your living room, a hi-fi audio setup should deliver the best sonic quality you can experience at home.

High fidelity (often shortened to Hi-Fi or 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) frequency response within the human hearing range.