Audiophile, the Glossary
An audiophile (from +) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction.[1]
Table of Contents
90 relations: ABX test, Acoustic suspension, Acoustics, Amplifier, Apple Lossless Audio Codec, Audio and video interfaces and connectors, Audio equipment testing, Audio feedback, Audio file format, Audio system measurements, Bass reflex, Blinded experiment, Broadcast quality, Compact disc, Comparison of analog and digital recording, Computer file, Concert, Crocodile clip, Digital audio, Digital recording, Digital-to-analog converter, Direct Stream Digital, DVD-Audio, Dynamic range, Electrodynamic speaker driver, Electrostatic loudspeaker, Equalization (audio), Facebook, File format, FLAC, Flutter (electronics and communication), Frequency response, Headphones, Hearing, High Definition Compatible Digital, High fidelity, High-end audio, Horn loudspeaker, James Randi, List of streaming media services, Lossless compression, Lossy compression, Loudspeaker, Loudspeaker enclosure, Magnetic cartridge, Magnetostatic loudspeaker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michael Fremer, Mid-range speaker, MP3, ... Expand index (40 more) »
ABX test
An ABX test is a method of comparing two choices of sensory stimuli to identify detectable differences between them.
Acoustic suspension
Acoustic suspension is a loudspeaker cabinet design that uses one or more loudspeaker drivers mounted in a sealed box.
See Audiophile and Acoustic suspension
Acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound.
Amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current).
Apple Lossless Audio Codec
The Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), also known as Apple Lossless, or Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE), is an audio coding format, and its reference audio codec implementation, developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music.
See Audiophile and Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Audio and video interfaces and connectors
Audio connectors and video connectors are electrical or optical connectors for carrying audio or video signals.
See Audiophile and Audio and video interfaces and connectors
Audio equipment testing
Audio equipment testing is the measurement of audio quality through objective and/or subjective means.
See Audiophile and Audio equipment testing
Audio feedback
Audio feedback (also known as acoustic feedback, simply as feedback) is a positive feedback situation that may occur when an acoustic path exists between an audio output (for example, a loudspeaker) and its audio input (for example, a microphone or guitar pickup).
See Audiophile and Audio feedback
Audio file format
An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system.
See Audiophile and Audio file format
Audio system measurements
Audio system measurements are a means of quantifying system performance. Audiophile and Audio system measurements are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Audio system measurements
Bass reflex
A bass reflex system (also known as a ported, vented box or reflex port) is a type of loudspeaker enclosure that uses a port (hole) or vent cut into the cabinet and a section of tubing or pipe affixed to the port. Audiophile and bass reflex are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Bass reflex
Blinded experiment
In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete.
See Audiophile and Blinded experiment
Broadcast quality
Broadcast quality is a term stemming from quad videotape to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors (TBC) used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition.
See Audiophile and Broadcast quality
Compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was codeveloped by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings.
See Audiophile and Compact disc
Comparison of analog and digital recording
Sound can be recorded and stored and played using either digital or analog techniques.
See Audiophile and Comparison of analog and digital recording
Computer file
In computing, a computer file is a resource for recording data on a computer storage device, primarily identified by its filename.
See Audiophile and Computer file
Concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience.
Crocodile clip
Alligator clip A crocodile clip or alligator clip is a plier-like spring-tensioned metal clip with elongated, serrated jaws that is used for creating a temporary electrical connection.
See Audiophile and Crocodile clip
Digital audio
Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form.
See Audiophile and Digital audio
Digital recording
In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video.
See Audiophile and Digital recording
Digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal.
See Audiophile and Digital-to-analog converter
Direct Stream Digital
Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is a trademark used by Sony and Philips for their system for digitally encoding audio signals for the Super Audio CD (SACD).
See Audiophile and Direct Stream Digital
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD.
Dynamic range
Dynamic range (abbreviated DR, DNR, or DYR) is the ratio between the largest and smallest values that a certain quantity can assume.
See Audiophile and Dynamic range
Electrodynamic speaker driver
An electrodynamic speaker driver, often called simply a speaker driver when the type is implicit, is an individual transducer that converts an electrical audio signal to sound waves.
See Audiophile and Electrodynamic speaker driver
Electrostatic loudspeaker
An electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL) is a loudspeaker design in which sound is generated by the force exerted on a membrane suspended in an electrostatic field.
See Audiophile and Electrostatic loudspeaker
Equalization (audio)
Equalization, or simply EQ, in sound recording and reproduction is the process of adjusting the volume of different frequency bands within an audio signal.
See Audiophile and Equalization (audio)
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by American technology conglomerate Meta.
File format
A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.
See Audiophile and File format
FLAC
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software package that includes a codec implementation.
Flutter (electronics and communication)
In electronics and communication, flutter is the rapid variation of signal parameters, such as amplitude, phase, and frequency.
See Audiophile and Flutter (electronics and communication)
Frequency response
In signal processing and electronics, the frequency response of a system is the quantitative measure of the magnitude and phase of the output as a function of input frequency.
See Audiophile and Frequency response
Headphones
Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. Audiophile and Headphones are audio engineering.
Hearing
Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium.
High Definition Compatible Digital
High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Compact Disc Digital Audio, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact disc players.
See Audiophile and High Definition Compatible Digital
High fidelity
High fidelity (often shortened to Hi-Fi or HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. Audiophile and high fidelity are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and High fidelity
High-end audio
High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies.
See Audiophile and High-end audio
Horn loudspeaker
A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s).
See Audiophile and Horn loudspeaker
James Randi
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
See Audiophile and James Randi
A streaming media service (also simply called a streaming service) is an online platform that allows users to watch or listen to content, such as movies, TV shows, music, or podcasts, over the internet.
See Audiophile and List of streaming media services
Lossless compression
Lossless compression is a class of data compression that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data with no loss of information.
See Audiophile and Lossless compression
Lossy compression
In information technology, lossy compression or irreversible compression is the class of data compression methods that uses inexact approximations and partial data discarding to represent the content.
See Audiophile and Lossy compression
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. Audiophile and loudspeaker are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Loudspeaker
Loudspeaker enclosure
A loudspeaker enclosure or loudspeaker cabinet is an enclosure (often rectangular box-shaped) in which speaker drivers (e.g., loudspeakers and tweeters) and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and, in some cases, power amplifiers, are mounted. Audiophile and loudspeaker enclosure are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Loudspeaker enclosure
Magnetic cartridge
A magnetic cartridge, more commonly called a phonograph cartridge or phono cartridge or (colloquially) a pickup, is an electromechanical transducer that is used to play phonograph records on a turntable.
See Audiophile and Magnetic cartridge
Magnetostatic loudspeaker
A magnetostatic loudspeaker is a dipole loudspeaker that is similar to an electrostatic loudspeaker but uses high currents instead of using high voltages.
See Audiophile and Magnetostatic loudspeaker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
See Audiophile and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael Fremer
Michael Alan Fremer (born 1947) is an American music journalist, YouTuber, and voice actor from New York City, known for writing about audiophile equipment and vinyl.
See Audiophile and Michael Fremer
Mid-range speaker
A mid-range speaker is a loudspeaker driver that reproduces sound in the frequency range from 250 to 2000 Hz.
See Audiophile and Mid-range speaker
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg, with support from other digital scientists in other countries.
Negative feedback
Negative feedback (or balancing feedback) occurs when some function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused by changes in the input or by other disturbances.
See Audiophile and Negative feedback
Nyquist frequency
In signal processing, the Nyquist frequency (or folding frequency), named after Harry Nyquist, is a characteristic of a sampler, which converts a continuous function or signal into a discrete sequence.
See Audiophile and Nyquist frequency
One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was an offer by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria.
See Audiophile and One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
Peter Belt
Peter W. Belt (1930-17 February 2017) was a British manufacturer of unusual "treatments" to be applied to hi-fi equipment by audiophile enthusiasts.
Philip Greenspun
Philip Greenspun (born September 28, 1963) is an American computer scientist, educator, early Internet entrepreneur, and pilot who was a pioneer in developing online communities like photo.net.
See Audiophile and Philip Greenspun
Phonograph record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), a vinyl record (for later varieties only), or simply a record or vinyl is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove.
See Audiophile and Phonograph record
Plasma speaker
Plasma speakers or ionophones are a form of loudspeaker which varies air pressure via an electrical plasma instead of a solid diaphragm.
See Audiophile and Plasma speaker
Power conditioner
A power conditioner (also known as a line conditioner or power line conditioner) is a device intended to improve the quality of the power that is delivered to electrical load equipment.
See Audiophile and Power conditioner
Preamplifier
A preamplifier, also known as a preamp, is an electronic amplifier that converts a weak electrical signal into an output signal strong enough to be noise-tolerant and strong enough for further processing, or for sending to a power amplifier and a loudspeaker. Audiophile and preamplifier are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Preamplifier
Professional audio
Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high-quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Audiophile and Professional audio are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Professional audio
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method.
See Audiophile and Pseudoscience
Quad Electroacoustics
QUAD Electroacoustics is a British manufacturer of hi-fi equipment, based Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
See Audiophile and Quad Electroacoustics
Reddit is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and forum social network.
Reverberation
Reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound after it is produced.
See Audiophile and Reverberation
Room acoustics
Room acoustics is a subfield of acoustics dealing with the behaviour of sound in enclosed or partially-enclosed spaces.
See Audiophile and Room acoustics
Rumble (noise)
A rumble is a continuous deep, resonant sound, such as the sound made by heavy vehicles or thunder.
See Audiophile and Rumble (noise)
Sampling (signal processing)
In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous-time signal to a discrete-time signal.
See Audiophile and Sampling (signal processing)
Scientific control
A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables).
See Audiophile and Scientific control
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material that has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass.
See Audiophile and Semiconductor
Signal-to-noise ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise.
See Audiophile and Signal-to-noise ratio
Solid-state electronics
Solid-state electronics are semiconductor electronics: electronic equipment that use semiconductor devices such as transistors, diodes and integrated circuits (ICs).
See Audiophile and Solid-state electronics
Sound quality
Sound quality is typically an assessment of the accuracy, fidelity, or intelligibility of audio output from an electronic device. Audiophile and Sound quality are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Sound quality
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. Audiophile and sound recording and reproduction are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Sound recording and reproduction
Soundproofing
Soundproofing is any means of impeding sound propagation.
See Audiophile and Soundproofing
Standing wave
In physics, a standing wave, also known as a stationary wave, is a wave that oscillates in time but whose peak amplitude profile does not move in space.
See Audiophile and Standing wave
Stereophile
Stereophile is a monthly American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news.
See Audiophile and Stereophile
Stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. Audiophile and Stereophonic sound are audio engineering.
See Audiophile and Stereophonic sound
Subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. Audiophile and subwoofer are audio engineering.
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999.
See Audiophile and Super Audio CD
The Absolute Sound
The Absolute Sound (TAS) is an American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, along with recordings and comments on various music-related subjects.
See Audiophile and The Absolute Sound
Theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage.
Total harmonic distortion
The total harmonic distortion (THD or THDi) is a measurement of the harmonic distortion present in a signal and is defined as the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic components to the power of the fundamental frequency.
See Audiophile and Total harmonic distortion
Tweeter
A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically up to 100 kHz.
Vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied.
See Audiophile and Vacuum tube
Vibration
Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point.
Videophile
A videophile (literally, "one who loves sight") is one who is concerned with achieving high-quality results in the recording and playback of movies, TV programs, etc. Audiophile and videophile are Hobbies.
What Hi-Fi?
What Hi-Fi? is a website and magazine published by Future.
See Audiophile and What Hi-Fi?
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft.
See Audiophile and Windows Media Audio
Woofer
A woofer or bass speaker is a technical term for a loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds, typically from 20 Hz up to a few hundred Hz.
Wow (recording)
Wow is a relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) that can affect gramophone records and tape recorders.
See Audiophile and Wow (recording)
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiophile
Also known as Audio woo, Audiophiles, Audiophilia, Pear Cables.
, Negative feedback, Nyquist frequency, One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, Peter Belt, Philip Greenspun, Phonograph record, Plasma speaker, Power conditioner, Preamplifier, Professional audio, Pseudoscience, Quad Electroacoustics, Reddit, Reverberation, Room acoustics, Rumble (noise), Sampling (signal processing), Scientific control, Semiconductor, Signal-to-noise ratio, Solid-state electronics, Sound quality, Sound recording and reproduction, Soundproofing, Standing wave, Stereophile, Stereophonic sound, Subwoofer, Super Audio CD, The Absolute Sound, Theatre, Total harmonic distortion, Tweeter, Vacuum tube, Vibration, Videophile, What Hi-Fi?, Windows Media Audio, Woofer, Wow (recording).