Where does "MidFi" differ from "HiFi" or "LOFI"?

@kota1 

Good link.

When someone like Andrew Robinson, who has owned all kinds of high priced gear tells you that in performance level there is little to nothing extra sonically to be gained by going the extra mile (or extra $100,000+) then perhaps we ought to pay him some attention.

Robinson has been there and done it and despite describing himself as a recovering audiophile, he has lived to tell the tale.

No doubt his marriage to the lovely Kristi has been of a great help to him in getting his priorities straightened.
 

In his own words:

I have three passions: my wife, filmmaking and music.

@audiotroy

+ 1 ….. well said, sir! It is not - and never has been - a primary segregation based primarily on an ad hoc variable assertion of arbitrary and highly biased price points.

Rather, It’s all about ascending strata points vis-a-vis the ascending quality of the parts used, then the ascending superior design and actual build assembly quality, and topped off with added attention to the features and like details,

THUS … the sequential audio performance improvements at each strata that is clear and significant at each step.

With it comes the inescapable and progressive matched step-up in price… sure… it’s gonna cost you progressively more , but it is encapsulated best in the the following metaphor:

”… “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.” - Warren Buffet.

I would enjoy hearing the audio science review crowd responses

One area where it is EASY to go from lowfi to hifi on a beer budget is treating your room. Stick high end components in a bad room and they instantly sound like midfi or worse. In a good room, whatever gear you have has the opportunity to perform at its best. So, in order to GET true hifi your room must be acoustically excellent or why bother?

@kota1

On headphone systems.

Headphone systems are much less expensive to put together than main speaker systems. In general I fine about 1/10th the cost… obviously with lots of variation. I am not sure where I would make breaks on headphone systems. I should… I spent several years trying to get “magic” into my headphone system. I think, for me it was about $3K / component for audiophile… which to me kicks the bar up to more than great sound… but something that transcends just well executed… sound that is compelling and difficult not to pay attention to.

Actually, I ended up with my current system by starting by upgrading my headphone system to a really high level… so about $5K per component. It was so incredibly good that it put my main system to shame. while it had the limitations of headphones… it is simply stunning.

The performance of my headphone system got me working on my main system. I basically upgraded everything and went for all tubes. Incredibly well worth it… fortunately I was able to afford it.