What does "Sounds too Hifi" mean???

When I use it it means: a. Not acoustically natural as the way live music sounds b. Too "electronic" sounding (tizzy or boomy sounding) c. Fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time.

Hifi music reproduction is artificial. Too hifi means the artifice is not well hidden.

I was under the impression that "Hifi" is a vestage of a GOOD descriptor, a complimentary term used in the past, if not the present. Since when did high fidelity come to mean something negative? (Perhaps I missed the backlash to the 80's during my "non-audiophile" period!).

To me too HiFi usually means that too much emphasis has been placed in creating a highly detailed (read bright & thin) upper midrange and highs to exaggerate the soundstaging effect at the expense of musicality. It could also be over/under emphasis in any part of the musical spectrum to appeal to certain listeners, which departs from a neutral presentation of the contents of the recordings.

"Sounds too Hifi" mean the system don't sound like the real thing at all.
Or it is a polite description that mean the system sounds like SHXX !!!
If a system "sounds too Hifi", it always remind you that you are listening to reproduce music.

HiFi has been a good thing. It is what all audio components aspire to. Quality of components has been rated as budget, mid-fi and hi-fi (high fidelity). Hi-Fi is what audiophiles would purchase because this is the equipment striving to be the best.

Now in the persuit of this holy grail, the highest resolution equipment can be a mix of hi-fi sound or like real music. Both are positve qualities in terms of sound reproduction, but obviously it's real music that's more desireable. Especially today, more and more components can sound like music.

Hi-Fi is a good thing, consider mid-fi and low-fi as inferior reproduction.
Now obviously there can be some musical qualities to even low-fi sound.

Peter: don't be mislead. High end is who you are, not what you buy...

With psychic power and primal intensity,

sound too HiFi means you will feel fatique after long time listening. you will notice about this.

take your time to test.

hi fidelity or hi fi is a good thing....a lot of hi end audio is overly analytical...at a music venue bass is fast and loose(when did you ever hear an acoustic or electric bass that was tight?) and a horn players' runs will make your hair curl....too much of hi end isn't like listening to live music at all....hell,even anne murray is loud in concert.

...it's when you don't know how to describe precisely or more specific or haven't enough vocabulary or combination of all above you can say instead: "HiFi", "NotHiFi", "NotTooHiFi" and "TooHiFi"...

accentuated highs & boomy bass is sometimes associated with that vernacular "too hi fi" when compared to a more desirable flat response

"Too HiFi" most often connotes: "I can't afford it", "I regret my last upgrade" or "I really like it but I'm not supposed to".

too much transparency,detail, and realism...

I like the "I can't afford it" comment. I would also like to add stereos that are "too hifi" are only sold in snooty stereo boutiques.

Actually, I think "too hifi" is a misnomer. What I mean is, there is no such thing as too much hifi. Either you like a stereo system or you don't.

If there is a stereo that does everything perfectly, yet you just have don't have subjective preference towards this system, then the label "too hifi" is used.

That subjective preference can come in many different vehicles. That system doesn't evoke quality within the perception of the individual buyer, or that buyer simply has cold feet (or cold ears?).

In summary, there can be infinite # of subjective reasons why an otherwise adequate stereo is "too hifi."