Do sound characteristics matter when moving from midfi to hifi?

Where does one draw the line between Mid-fi and Hi-fi?

I live 10 miles due north of T.H.E. Show and you are welcome to come by and hear how good a 14 year old Oppo BDP-95 through 23 year old Yamaha RX-Z9 and "home made" 30-40+ year old JBL/AMT speakers can sound. I designed the speakers for the room over countless years and iterations of crossover development and can put the band right in the room with you. Total investment was <$6,000 and I purchased the Yamaha new back in 2002 ($4,500 less 10% back then). Receiver now has over 30,000 hours on it and still functions as new.

Both the RECEIVER and Oppo are run in "Pure Direct" mode and there is no eq or room compensation, electronic or physical used for music.

Would any of this be considered as Hi-end"??? I doubt it!

BUT!!! I attended T.H.E. Show last year and this puts most of what I heard at 10 times the cost to shame. Talk about a "disappearing act"...

You are certainly welcome to come by for a listen.

Can't respond to your message because I won't give Audiogon a credit card number..., but get hold of me when the show gets close and give me an email address.  I probably won't go this year because I'll be doing a garden railroad open house display for the Club and public that weekend.

https://youtu.be/jQ6rcU1Vbwo

I have several systems set up. A mid-fi TV surround sound setup, a vintage tube Dynaco one, a utility system with Fosi Audio and Bellari bits, and my “good” stereo, which until recently had a CJ SS preamp, a Schiit SS power amp, and Pro-Ject phono preamp. I have speakers of my own construction using Dayton and Morel components. I wasn’t loving it as much as I thought I should, so I recently bought a Quad 33 and 303…liked by Steve Guttenberg and other on-line pundits.  My listening pleasure has improved greatly and my system is considerably simpler now. I also transitioned all my fancy unbalanced interconnects to cheap balanced XLR ones from WBC (Canare cable).  Between the Quad’s unusual Tilt and Bass controls and the Schiit Lokius eq I can listen at moderate levels with tremendous clarity and what seems to be tonal naturalness. These components sell for an unusually reasonable price for the quality they offer.  If the power is not enough, the amps are bridgeable. The phono preamp isn’t as flexible as the Pro-Ject, but sounds fine with all my cartridges.