Hi fi is defined as accuracy in an audio reproduction system. In other words, how close the end result is to the original. For most of last century hi fi was the ultimate quest for both audio designers and practitioners, but somehow we lost our way. Today a lot of the hard-fought battles to achieve improvements in sound quality have been forgotten, and even discarded. So we have ended up with a bizarre situation where the gains of hi fi can be readily observed in livesound technology, but the reverse has happened with recording technology. Here, the quality has actually gone down thanks to inferior playback devices such as mp3 files, laptop speakers, mini stereos, earbuds. Meanwhile, at the recording stage there are improvements such as 192KHz sampling, 24 bit depth, more accurate monitor speakers, and so on. Clearly there is an imbalance here, and it has got to the point where it is really academic as to whether such improvements are worthwhile for popular music. Since the 60s, Pop music (including virtually all contemporary styles) has really fallen outside the definition of hi fi. Since the music is artificially made (using sound FX, deliberate distortion, electronic sounds, unnatural spaces etc) there is no performance point of reference. This is not to say these styles ignore the concept of hi fi completely, but they certainly do not obey it. So, it seems absurd that engineers spend so long on GearSlutz forums and the like, discussing the finer points of very expensive equipment. This is very much a case of the industry serving its own needs - the engineers, and the equipment manufacturers. The public doesn't care, and while all this is going on the loser is music. Look at the music of the 60s (both pop and rock). The hi fi-ness of many songs/ albums is quite low by todays standards, but the music still shines through.
I would make a different case for classical music. Here there is a coherent performance to reference the recording to, so faithfulness to sounding like that is the mark of the project.
I would make a different case for classical music. Here there is a coherent performance to reference the recording to, so faithfulness to sounding like that is the mark of the project.