High End v/s Mid End hifi

Early B.

The term, "high end" is a marketing tactic. It's fruitless to try and define it in general terms. Like everything else in audio, it's subjective.

simphiwes

i am ecstatic by the response i got, i have been into this hobby for years, dont know how long but very long. My restriction most of the time was lack of money(that hasnt chaged much) and lack of information. I initialy started 2005 (this isnt when i started by the way, started in 1992 with Technics all in one gear ) thinking SONY was as high end as you can get, but soon realised that to most people in this forum its actually bottom of the food chain with the PIONEER's and JVC's and PANASONIC's of this world. I was suddenly bombarded with many names like adcom, B&K, Classe which most of the time where proberbly costisting something i would earn as a salary for 5yrs straight. So then reality struck, i cant afford it, i can never afford it, so i had to make a compromise and settle with gear i could afford which meant at the time ONKYO, B&W 600 series speakers and pioneer gear. i havent been able to listen to gear costing triple my gear cause abviosly you get sales people who's already decided you cannot afford the higher end stuff hence there is no need for them to spend any more time on you. But the time time i have spent here has opened my eyes and ears and have learned that your system i as good as you feel about it and as you as good as you make it and your best friends are the two cup like things on the side of your ears.

simphiwes

For most people in my country Rotel is top of the range along with Marantz and for most people that is the be all that ends all so to some extent you can appreciate where i am coming from, brands like Adcom, B&K, Classe are almost non existant add the price to that people wont even look twice at it. i took the plung and bought the gear i did because i had some money saved up and could afford to buy the out of the ordinary considering my backround and primarily because i loved my music and wanted it played as decent as possible, enter B&W. None of my friends knew this brand and half the time was cofussed with BMW, but my friens were also surprissed at how well a small speaker like the B&W 602 S3 / Polk Audio Monitor 40 could perform so well, just by the way my friends dont call the products by their product names so i do sound like a weirdo at times but its okay i dont mind.

For most people these were names they hadnt heard of before, but because they werent into the hobby like i was thats as far as it went, i knew and still know there is better, but the fact that i havent heard make me long to hear what i dont know, hence the question, what is the difference between high end and mid end, as i already have a pretty good idea of what low end sounds like, or the more popular term entry level. Maybe i also know i might never afford high end hence again the question here mid v/s high end

simphiwes

Hopefully i have'nt bored some of you to a stand still, but thanks for the continued support i have received from you guys, newbies and veterans alike i appreciate it.

F1nut

simphiwes wrote:

But the time time i have spent here has opened my eyes and ears and have learned that your system i(s) as good as you feel about it and as good as you make it and your best friends are the two cup like things on the side of your ears.

The fact that you have grasped that in a short period of time puts you way ahead of the game. Some audiophools never get it.

I've been told this once or twice, "Hi-fi is what you own and mid-fi is what all your friends own."

Is there any kind of used audio market in South Africa? If not, maybe you should think about starting one.

simphiwes

i dont know much about the second hand market, i might have to do research, but most second hand gear is sold by the dealers, 1 or 2 websites do secondhand stuff but its usually deallers trying to get free market space from the websites that do second hand goods.

F1nut

Buying audio gear used is a great way to get more for less. Most audiophools change gear like normal people change underwear, so you can get gear that's gently used for about 50% off the new price. If you don't like it, you can always resell it for what or close to what you paid for it.

simphiwes

Very true. i am eyeying a rotel RB990BX which wich would be about $500 US dollars which would normally sell for about $1500 US dollars. I wanted to save for the RB1070 but this would bring me closer to my goal sooner. Stereo all the way. i just hope i dont get beaten to it, that would be a bumer.

F1nut

You might want to take a look at www.audiogon.com

That amp sold for $1000.00 new and one just sold on Audiogon for $299.00. It may be cheaper to buy something here and have it shipped.

simphiwes

Thanks, much appreciated.

Flash21

IMHO the high end of Rotel approaches the low end of high end audio...clear?

Not long ago I had a Rotel 990 amp and 995 preamp, the aggregate MSRP of these pieces was around $1800 - 1900 I believe (plus interconnects :rolleyes: - another reason for integrated amps)...that ain't cheap (FWIW I bought 'em used, paid about half that). I enjoyed them immensely for about 5 years.

Then I got the itch and started auditioning amps from Plinius, Perreaux, and others, and ultimately ended up with my current Bel Canto eVo2i. Believe me there is a difference beyond the Rotel gear...it is difficult to describe but the music is so much more there...alive and lifelike and natural sounding. Truly you don't know what you are missing until you try it, because the Rotel stuff sounds darn good to start with. It is worth the money? Absolutely only YOU can decide that.

josh_parsons626

So....in the end, to us "little people" is the thousands of dollars for hifi end components vs say, Outlaw Audio pre/pro and 7-channel amp a "noticeable" difference if you've never heard it before? Say for me, where I only have an Onkyo 75 x 7 RECEIVER. If I go and buy an Outlaw Audio 990 pre/pro and 7700 7-channel amp, hooked up to even a full Monitor series will just sound so ALIVE to me wont it? And then WHEN, not saying IF, but when I get a full LSi system "X" amount of years down the road, will that same Outlaw Audio system sound as good to me if I would have like $10,000 in amps and processors? Honestly? I just dont know if all that "hi-fi end equipment" is worth the extra $5,000+ IMO. But that could be because I've never heard good sounding equipment.

mulveling

To me, when you get together a carefully crafted synergistic high end system, it's on a totally different level. Music listening become a whole 'nother experience. That's worth it to me, if I had the money.

The best speaker setup I've heard had (going by list prices) $16,000/pr speakers, $7000/pr monblocks, $5K pre, $4.4K CD, definitely 4 digits in cables, and some acoustic treatments in a dedicated room. The guy wasn't even done yet, and the speakers had a bit of an issue that had to be resolved, but the music was *there*. Second best setup I've heard was $5K/pr in the same room, similar system. With a good recording, especially vinyl or SACD, it was not at all inferior to live performances (in many ways it was much better); it was just a different kind of experience. THAT's what hifi is about. Have yet to hear gear on the <= $2K (or even $3K) per component level that's able to compete, but then my experience isn't vast.

faster100

I think it's in the eye and wallet of the beholder.. It doesnt matter how good a 10k system sounds if you can never afford it. Bigger/better is almost always better as you go up the chain.

Rotel gear and the likes will be MY hi-fi.. but to someone else, its just a step towards it.

To say someone has never heard good gear because it wasnt multi thousands per piece isnt fair to say, ( generally speaking)

and who is to say where mid fi ends and hi-fi begins? people who can't afford it or people who have the best. food for thought

dragon1952

But like someone mentioned, a good rule of thumb is that if it's got plastic on it it's probably a good guess that it's not hi-end :cool:

reeltrouble1

I dont consider the cost of a televison germain to a high end audio system. Actually, high end audio systems dont have television's, they simply dont need any visual's to detract from themselves.

People like to categorize things in all areas of life. This creates order and gives a feeling of being in control, thats mid-fi, thats low-fi and so on. Its a music system listen and enjoy each piece as it relates to the whole, I think that is all Lush meant by use your effin ears, which I dont think he meant anything brash about it.

In the hobby some folks have to spend xxxx amount to feel they got a decent piece, no problem and in general you get what you pay for, those so called giant killers we love are few and far between.

As Max said or let me add to it, There is always a bigger fish in the pond.

Edit as several typed out relpy's while I was pondering this response.

Yes, Josh, you will get actually get a more noticeable jump going from your Onk to the Outlaw than say from a NAD to a Classe. Also I would always buy the best piece of gear from the better manufacture's that I could afford say a lower end Krell as opposed to a higher end of one of the mass market pieces.

RT1