Mid-Fi, Hi-Fi or.....?

It been said that there are no absolute truths. Just workable truths, and relatative truths. In this regard, there is no "absolute sound", just (very) subjective references to high fidelity and high(er) fidelity.

There is no absolute truth...Common place fact ...

But here once this is said you forgot acoustics when refering to high fidelity stereo system... Doing so instead of refering to controllable objective acoustics parameters and concepts and experience you refer as all marketing to the gear itself as the "source", the material design of a gear piece and his associated price tag...This is "not even wrong"... It is beside the point and put in our head by consumers marketing...

If someone want to know what is acoustics experience in stereo system , the owner manual of the best high end gear in the world is worthless..

Read an acoustician , the last genius to know what he spoke about is Edgar Choueiri .... Acoustics with an (s) is not mere room acoustic...

The gear does not determine the level of acoustic satisfaction , his rightful implementation in a House/room/ears-brain does it ...

Incredible the point to which publicity about the gear brainwashed us all ...

I will not give other example of brainwashing... I will be out of subject...

The only way to go through audiophile experience is learning how to do it not purchasing costlier materials and accusing me or others to be envious of high end ...😊 It is the opposite i pity those who buy high end very costlier product and use them in a non dedicated room bragging about gear...

Gear matter it is a common place fact ... But it is completely secondary compared to all acoustics and psychoacoustics paramaters and concepts...

Period.

Forget the gear and study acoustics a bit...

or call me envious of 100,000 bucks speakers as some just did ...😁 It is ludicrous... I am proud of my speakers low cost modifications and my acoustics controls at no cost yes...Audiophile experience for peanuts is possible sorry for those who dare to claim for the sake or their expanse that it is not possible ... It is...With vintage gear or basically well optimized low cost good gear...

Or perhaps even if i tuned my room i am deaf to high end ... 😋

I dont think and i know that one of the best amplifier of 1987 and the AKG K340 are not mere vintage low -fi or mid-fi...

These labels make no sense but most people cannot put an experimented  hearing  content on acoustics various factors... Then because they only identify price tags they go for this marketing ploy ...And anyway those with the budget will never believe anything as my motto : acoustics and synergy and mechanical and electrical controls matter more than price tags...

Some will say that my observation is born from envy...On the opposite i am very pride of my peanuts cost system...my jaw drop on the floor each time i use my 2 systems because i optimized it as it is...

I lacked the money to go officially in what they called purchase in high-fi, but i acquired the necessary experience to do it with past high fi vintage and acoustics and various mechanical and electrical controls...

Timbre experience and listener envelopment and sound sources dimensions and level of crosstalk , transients, bass, etc are not purely subjective concept they become objective when you had learn how to create and modify them in a system/room...

My speakers and headphones are unique because i modify them...Then instead of being envious of those who paid big amount of money i pity them now... The only one i know really better my low cost system really and not marginally , must own a dedicated acoustic room and a speakers/room system tuned for one another...

Defining system classification by price tag assimilating quality with price is naive...

I prefer to define it in two level : minimal and maximal threshold acoustic satisfaction...

Acoustics concepts are perfectly definite... Timbre, spatial characteristics if we simplify...

Then we can roughly distinguish a lower design system in a living room , and a high quality design in a dedicated room... we can distinguish system at any price which are not well optimized by adressing the electrical noise floor level the mechanical vibration/resonance problems and the acoustical controls of the speakers/ears/room...

This is not related to price tags but to knowledege...

A system own a relatively natural timbre and the soundfield encompass the listener position with a balanced ratio between the sound sources dimension and the listener envelopment OR NOT AT ALL ...This is the minimal acoustical level of satisfaction, a threshold which can be reach by modest or costlier system OR NOT ...

The maximal level of acoustic satisfaction ask for a dedicated acoustic room and the BACCH filters right now...

Then defending an imprecise and useless classification between high -fi mid-fi and low -fi (and why not chi-fi as some do) grounded in price tags at the end of the day could be an opinion which can be defended anyway for sure as you just did ...

What cannot be defended is insinuating as you did that because we have a motivated acoustic standpoint instead of a high end costlier gear perspective focus we ARE ENVIOUS and jealous of your high end system ...😊

Sorry mate but this is an ad hominem argument ...And a ridiculous one ...

It can easily be reversed in snobism accusation and other stupid claims about you ...I dont play this game... 😁

Because i am not narrow mind enough to use ad hominem arguments, i will answer to your remark by saying that i define satisfaction by ACOUSTIC experience and not by gear price tag , i define it by room controls more than by costlier upgrades of a gear piece...

my claim is that doing so i indicate acoustics as the road to be taken not a race to more and more expanses ...

i Apologize but i feel that i must clarified my perspective...Without ad hominem arguments...

I will add that anybody here appreciated your specific advices because of your gear experiences, me included... I say that to be understood and in a way you will understand that i dont attack you personally......

Classifications like these are often hotly debated because folks that can’t afford upper echelon equipment are prone to deny the categories are valid. They want to think of their purchases as smart, not limited by their financial circumstances. Folks that can afford higher level equipment want to reinforce the classifications as it shows them in a favorable light

The distinction between low-fi and mid-fi and high-fi, vintage or not , is essentially based on price tag level today or in the past...

Independant of price, any system parts which are synergetical to begin with and well embedded in their mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions will create and reach at least a minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold...

This threshold can be improved to a maximal one with highly costlier upgrade and essentially a dedicated acoustic room ...

I do not take seriously now price tags, for sure TOP design quality cost money, but this is not enough to give a satisfying acoustic experience... This is easy to verify ...

Owning high quality design is not enough, it takes embeddings mechanical,electrical and especially acoustical controls devices ...

Today we can even buy relatively qualitative good gear for relatively  low price then the way we embed them in our room matter most than buying new design presented as being "better" ...

I trust  first knowledge and experiments  and in second only the price tags of a piece of gear...