Just What Is High End?, The High End, Mid-Fi, & Pretend High End

Two interesting articles on Stereophile - both from the '90's, but imho are still fresh.

http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/40/index.html

http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1194awsi2/index.html

Quoting Stephen Mejias, "If a component puts music and music-lovers first, then it's high end. Regardless of the cost."

I found both articles quite interestisng. Still, each left out a key element as to what constitues "high-end:" "High Price."

That's not to say that all high-end equipment is costly (though most is), or that something not astronomically priced could fit into the category, but I feel that most readers of "Stereophile" and posters here and elsewhere would agree that most truly high-end equipment is also very expensive.

Personally, I think the "down-to-earth" prices of components from companies like Adcom, Parasound and Rotel make them unique in the high-end arena. While their products certainly aren't cheap, they're usually a fraction of the cost of other products to which they're often compared.

Do I sell highend? Depends who you ask. If it is joe who works 7 to 3 yes I do. But I tried to get the best gear for the price.

imo and speaking in a general context, high-end is another audio term that is almost entirely subjective in its meaning. different people are going to have different ideas on what high-end is and what it is not, and also which components will qualify as high-end and which components will not.

for me the ultimate high-end component is one that does not suffer from any compromises in the sound that it delivers. how close a component comes to this ultimate performance determines where it places on the high-end scale. of course what does or does not constitute a compromise in sound is also a subjective opinion.

i think high-end performance requires a certain investment of time, effort and cost by the designers and manufacturers. quality design, materials and construction must first go into a product if it is to produce a quality sound. as the quality of sound increases, so does the required investment in development. in order for the manufacturers to turn a profit, these components will invariably be seen as being expensive by the vast majority of the economic lower and middle-class (yes expense is also subjective, but much less so). that is not to say that all high priced components are going to be high-end products. there are far too many components that only aspire to be high-end and carry a high price tag as a result.

i also believe its been well established that the higher you move up on the high-end scale, improvements in sound between components become smaller and smaller.

The law of diminishing returns, Scotty.
Wanna drop weight?
There's something to be said about momentum, and amazingly, I went from 180 to 175 without even trying, after trying really hard to get from 197 to 187.
When is very good good enough? For the few among us to whom money is truly no object, paying twice as much to go from 80% to 90% is no big deal.

Great description of your personal definition of high end.

To me, high end is anything I can't afford. Therefore, I shall never have high end. But on the off chance I end up with lots of cash, I would set the bar for high end extremely high.

I think the genius is in getting great sound without a highend pricetag.

Honestly, I can't even say I have heard much true high-end audiophile gear.
I would suspect I would be ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY by some of the systems you guys are running.

I think I am just barely touching the rear end of high end. In 5 months I have spent 1500, for an overhaul, the minute I took the money out of savings for my yamaha cx/mx2000 the axles on my car started clicking. and last week I bought the zhaolu dac and over the weekend a 2x4 got wedged up in the radiator of my girlfriends new atv.


Karma, is karma a part of high end, audiophile equipment? or is it the "man" trying to keep me down, and in vintage equipment that sounds good but not nearly as good as what is pushing sound to my ears in my living room as we speak.

maybe there is a secret police that is trying to keep me audiophile poor, but all I can say is that I will slowly continue to try to improve my system, damn the audio police anyway,

elroy

to me high end is what gives you goose bumps in your price range.

I think when you discuss high-end you have a perspective. Of the media or the source and the out come or the equipment. I here the word synergy alot? It confusses me like voodoo does.
To me it either sounds good or it doesn't. There isn't magic in the air to make it sound different. If it's crap it is crap.

an excellent and concise way to sum it up.

To me, it is a combination of superior build quality and performance that makes a piece worthy of the high end tag. When I handle the controls and listen to the sound, I know it is a superior piece and that to me makes owning the high end so much more satisfying than BPC.