A recent concert made me wonder, just how often do those interested in hi-fi actually listen to live musical performances? To make, evaluate or properly appreciate a piece of hi-fi equipment, you have to know exactly what you're meant to be reproducing. Don't you?

The concert in question took place during the Munich-based High End hi-fi show and the difference between the two events was startling. Such a statement isn't meant to belittle what is a very fine event indeed. Nor is this a dig at hi-fi engineers at large, as the majority I know through my line of work either are or have been employed as musicians and sound engineers at some point in their careers. They know what a note should sound like, far better than I do that's for sure.

Yet in Germany, the gap between the live event and its reproduction was huge.

The concert I describe saw Sir André Previn conduct the Münchner Philharmoniker playing Schuman's Symphony No. 3. It was a visceral experience. Rasping brass and jarring string sections fought with huge resonating double basses in an often chaotic way. It was frequently plain dirty. Throw in huge scale and massive dynamics, and the result was an aural experience to test the senses and send you away on a wonderful high.

The contrast between the concert and the show could not have been more different and, frankly, depressing. Every demonstration room at IFA felt utterly antiseptic in comparison.

Take the choice of music. Manufacturers seemed utterly obsessed with reproducing the perfect note, in all its squeaky-clean glory. It was amazing that in room after room you could hear the same type of acoustic material. The concert seemed but a distant memory. In fact, had the concert been perfectly reproduced, I could imagine visitors leaving the demonstration room in disgust at what they would have perceived as the ‘horrible' sound.

But it wasn't only the choice of music that created this insipid atmosphere.

More worryingly, the products themselves made the problem worse, seemingly forcing the midrange forward at the expense of all else. Sure, voices and guitars sounded absolutely stunning, and timed impeccably well. But the majority of live music simply bears no relation to that kind of sterile sound. Live music is often confused, grating and, in strict hi-fi terms, unpleasant. Hell, that's frequently the point!

In the end it was all too much like The Stepford Wives for me. Although the way the hi-fi replayed music bore some semblance to reality, it was all too perfect, too spotless, to be entirely convincing.

And, like the good women of Stepford, although hi-fi on these terms is strangely blissful, it is also ultimately doomed. This is because it's missing the spark that is at the heart of all music. So, get thee to a concert and hear how far your hi-fi comes to the real thing. Or, in a very few cases, how close.

Henry Griffiths is a former hi-fi journalist who has since worked for the likes of Cambridge Audio, Mordaunt-Short and now, Marantz. His passion for hi-fi is, er, scary...