Not a lab meter

Hi-Fi Score is not a measured DR or LUFS reading from a mastering lab. We do not analyze waveforms for every album. When you see a number with little community data, it is labeled Early signal.

Early signal (heuristic)

Built from:

• Streaming format tags (Hi-Res / lossless / lossy)
• Era and genre priors (jazz/soul/acoustic lean up; loudness-war genres lean down)
• Optional curator edition notes (known loud remasters, preferred stream cut)
• Editorial dynamic-range hints when we have them (not instrumented meters)

Community-weighted

Once an album has enough Music / Fidelity diary logs (n≥5), the badge shows Community · n=… and blends listener fidelity into the score. Remaster votes and speakers-vs-headphones splits stay separate so edition wars stay visible.

Edition truth

For remaster groups we publish year, loudness notes, preferred stream edition, and a short before/after story. Prefer the card that says Stream/buy this edition over chasing a higher heuristic alone. See remasters.