The difference between hifi and studio

Speakers for the home should make your music sound beautiful, so you can enjoy it. Studio monitors should make your music sound 'bad' by over-exposing the flaws in the track, so you can fix them. Therefore, hifi speakers and studio monitors should sound vastly different, right?

Not really.

If you work in a studio, your monitor is your most important tool. A good monitor lets you hear what's on the recording. It’s 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲. You don't want it to add its own sound signature, you don't want it to leave out anything, you don't want to have to second-guess your decisions. You want a monitor that's accurate, one that allows you to trust what you hear. And in the end, when you're done with your track, you want it to sound amazing in your studio and know that it translates well!

In your home you want your music to simply sound great. If you have a system that’s as accurate as the monitors that were used for the recording, the sound you hear will be very much like the sound the engineers heard in the studio. If your speakers are not accurate and add a significant amount of their own flavor, that flavor will make its presence known with every track you play. It’s like ketchup with every dish.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘪 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

Then should hifi systems and studio monitoring systems always sound the same? Actually, people do have differences in tastes, but differences are not as big as people think. Well-produced tracks played on an accurate system sound great to everybody. You may want to add a small pinch of salt to taste - that’s what tone controls are for - but please stay away from the ketchup.