??? Where Does "High End" Start ???


 There are terms we in this hobby use to describe certain characteristics of the components or sound evoked...Without fail,the terms entry level,mid-fi & high end will show up in component reviews or conversations regarding equipment components...
 So exactly how do we define these terms in absolutes?I understand there are components that,in this day & age,outperform their asking price in orders of magnitude but even if they do,they will invariably be tagged as entry level,mid-fi or high end simply based on their asking price..
 Assuming entry level starts at say $500.00 per component,where does that end & mid-fi start,$2500.00 per component,$3500.00,$4500.00,$5000.00?
 How far does that pricing structure go until you consider a component to be "high end"?
What are YOUR PERSONAL thoughts on this subject?

freediver

Showing 2 responses by mahgister

You might say there are two ways to be an audiophile.

One is to study, learn, listen, search, find.

The other is to spend a lot of money.

Some folks do both.

Which one do you want to be?

I kinda wish people stopped talking about money all the time. The tenor of this pursuit should never be money.

You will notice that accomplished audiophiles rarely, if ever, mention money.

 

 

 

Exactly right!

And we do not take the cost of a system as a meter of our acoustical satisfaction nor as a meter of a system acoustical value..

All is in the way we optimize it...

For sure my low cost amplifier even well optimized will not beat a very costlier well done designed and well optimized system...(if the costlier system is not well optimized it may be another story though)

I must specify this because some people taking me for an idiot think that i put my low cost system on the same level as all the costlier beautiful system i had seen here in the virtual pages...

my point is: any system must be optimized nervermind his price...

With my low cost one i reach the level of "the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold"... It is enough for me , my needs and my budget...

 

 

 

Give me money i will optimize any chosen system at any price...

Then i will reach "the maximal acoustical satisfaction threshold"

But in the money you will gave me add the cost of a perfectly well designed acoustical dedicated room, i will not install a 200,000 bucks system in a room made of resonators made of plumber plastic etc (mine was homemade at peanuts costs)

Of two thing one or the other :

We define high fi by pricing...( i refuse this because i heard one million bucks system sounding bad)

Or we define it by the optimization learning process necessary to make any system/room able to reach his potential..

 

Why?

 

Because there is no relation between a system/room ,at any price, before and after the optimization process.. No relation at all... ( i suppose a minimal level of synergy already given between the gear pieces here)

 

I know for a fact that most people dont know what their system/room optimal level S.Q. is because they dont know how to optimize it...They prefer to buy than to learn...It takes times...If their budget is low they resign to an unsatisfying experience...

It is why they upgrade uselessly half the time to shift the pain for a moment ... The other half upgrading could be motivated by absence of budget constraint or synergy lackings...