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

Andrew Robinson review soundbars. He does it really well though, but still....

@mceljo i am very confused about what you wrote

"I don’t think price should be the primary factor" and then:

"may be borderline MidFi because of its price point"

so which one is it?

"may be borderline MidFi because they are not hand made"

how on Earth is HANDMADE a requirement? 

@grislybutter - A confusing post for a confusing topic I guess. I don’t know that I can clarify, but will try to add context. 
 

I don’t personally think that a specific price point is a fair way to define what is MidFi vs. HiFi, but it’s always going to part of the discussion.

My DAC is the entry model for Denafrips and with retail price around $1,000 US would be disqualified from being HiFi based on these factors.

My Focal speakers are the top of the assembly line products, but with a retail price around $3,000 when the company has a flagship speaker that retailed for $180,000  it seems like my speakers are on the entry level of the spectrum.

As is all things audiophile, it’s all relative.  I don’t know anyone personally with a better system than mine, but it’s not hard to find single cables that retail for more than my entire system.  
 

I think HiFi should be defined more by intent than price point, but there’s always a point where that perspective loses its validity.

@mceljo 

I think HiFi is an accomplishment. Not gear, not cables. not dollar amounts. It's the sound that takes you out of the moment.

@grislybutter  yes, Robinson's been following the evolution of the soundbar tech.  

Soundbars make a lot of sense for a lot of people, and the best ones perform very well indeed for the task at hand, as they are designed specifically for that task... with the bonus of playing music well enough for "most people" too.

Myself, I'm using my Marantz Ruby amp and Klipsch Heresy IV speakers for audio to my video, and it works nicely for that but really it's my music system and honestly I could imagine a properly designed soundbar might beat it for both dialogue clarity and height effects.  However, if my significant other moves in, then a soundbar would make the most sense because he wouldn't want to navigate my hi-fi gear, would rather have a "turn on the TV and watch some Netflix with the bonus of upgraded sound" situation, so I'd probably get something like a Sonos Arc.  It's unlikely he'd care about true surround sound, and I don't either, and the Arc will give excellent sound for the task at hand, arguably better in some important respects than my Ruby/Heresy.  The Arc has modes like dialogue enhance and night viewing, both of which I can imagine would be very useful, based on my experience with both full surround and with two-channel through my amp.  I'd guess at the very least, the Arc will have more clear dialogue than my current stereo setup, for movies and TV. 

The Arc is just one example, as soundbar tech based on psycho-acoustics is rapidly evolving, and Robinson is right there in the mix and reporting his findings.