The Return of High Fidelity

The rise of the iPod marked the decline of the dominance of the Home Stereo. But as streaming audio dominates today, HD audio is making a comeback – and Apple should be worried. Mark Cohen of Audeze joins us to talk about the return of High Fidelity. Plus: Ground Zero for the Coronavirus is also the home of China’s punk scene, and why we’ve been KICKED OFF SPOTIFY…

What is “high fidelity”?

High fidelity (often shortened to hi-fi or hifi) is a term used by listeners, audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound.

Back in October of last year, our very own Alan Cross posted a really neat article on his website, A Journal of Musical Things about the history of headphones. Check it out here.

High quality audio is nothing new. In fact, platforms (like Tidal) rely solely on high quality audio. So why not take a look at some facts on who exactly is listening.

  • The average Canadian spends an average of 32 hours a week listening to music
  • 55% of people regularly use headphones at work
  • 46% of them use headphones to avoid talking to other people (sound like you? Ehem…)
  • 78% believe that music improves their productivity
  • The first headphones were created for the US Navy in 1910
  • The first headphones designed for home-use were released in 1937 and were meant primarily for listening to the radio

We found this infographic especially cool:

Check out our episode sponsor, Audeze. Their incredible line of headphones are some of the best you can buy.

 

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