High-End?

[John Duncan]

Well I had high end kit until this thread brought the Continuum Caliburn Reference to my attention. And now I have beer money kit. Thanks for that.

Course, Continuum Caliburn Reference owners must be spitting at having a budget turntable compared to the Goldmund Reference II.

 

[John Duncan]

But let's put it this way - your setup costs about 15 times as much as the average hifi in this country......

 

[chebby]

JohnDuncan:Well I had high end kit until this thread brought the Continuum Caliburn Reference to my attention. And now I have beer money kit. Thanks for that.

Any time John.

How do you think I feel having a turntable that probably costs less than the shipping for the Caliburn?

 

[John Duncan]

chebby:JohnDuncan:Well I had high end kit until this thread brought the Continuum Caliburn Reference to my attention. And now I have beer money kit. Thanks for that.

Any time John.

How do you think I feel having a turntable that probably costs less than the shipping for the Caliburn?

Or the little white gloves made from mammoth *** that you use to handle it?

 

[John Duncan]

That said 'mammoth scr0tum'.

 

[chebby]

The Caliburn sucks.....

http://www.continuumaudiolabs.com/caliburnvacuum.html

 

[John Duncan]

Tish boom.

That's *so* unnecessary.....

 

[the record spot]

Audio Research, Wadia, dcs Scarlatti, Zingali, Monitor Audio PL-range, Linn, and so on.....when you get into the individual designs and high end price tags, you know you;ve arrived. Doesn't necessarily make it 100% good though.

 

[Anonymous]

Of course it doesn't matter for me if it is high-end or not I am not an idiot. I jst wanted to know what is the definition of the expression high-end and now I know there is no answer I like my system even if it is budget still sound the same

 

[Anonymous]

High-end ["H?--S?d"]

Adj. ÿ1. Something you can't afford.

 

[Thaiman]

Mr. Nails

, people try to come up with many nicer way to descripe what High-end (some of us are more sensitive than other so it seem) but to me it's only read as "bloody expensive" for what they are!

The 840C was properbly one of the best CDP you can buy new for under a grand but that doesn't make it highend! Price to preformance never really make that much sense the higher it's goes.

It's not me that come up with this way of thinking by the way! Just ask Hifi dealers and they will tell you the same thing as me. Like I said this subject is hard to talking about without come across as a snob (which people who know me will tell you that I am not)

There are many people that would not dream of pay £15,000 for Ford Mondeo, that doesn't mean they are denying the fact that the like of Ferarie's, Porsche or Aston Martin are super Cars.

 

[Anonymous]

Exactly, and I think my very first post says the same.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Thaiman:
Mr. Nails

, people try to come up with many nicer way to descripe what High-end (some of us are more sensitive than other so it seem) but to me it's only read as "bloody expensive" for what they are!

The 840C was properbly one of the best CDP you can buy new for under a grand but that doesn't make it highend! Price to preformance never really make that much sense the higher it's goes.

It's not me that come up with this way of thinking by the way! Just ask Hifi dealers and they will tell you the same thing as me. Like I said this subject is hard to talking about without come across as a snob (which people who know me will tell you that I am not)

There are many people that would not dream of pay £15,000 for Ford Mondeo, that doesn't mean they are denying the fact that the like of Ferarie's, Porsche or Aston Martin are super Cars.

Read what I posted again Thaiman. I didn't say that the 840s were high end - far from it. I basically said that 99% of people would not class it as a budget or lower mid range (like you did) and that is because you are used to much higher end products than the normal hifi fan. I did in no way insinuate that you were being pompous or snobberish - far from it, I've read you talk about the merits of sub £500 equipment lots of times.

 

[Thaiman]

Not really Mr. Nails, if Arcam (or whoever) come up with £300 cd player that better than my £3K one I wouldn't not hesitate become a budget Arcam owner. Honestly

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Thaiman:Not really Mr. Nails, if Arcam (or whoever) come up with £300 cd player that better than my £3K one I wouldn't not hesitate become a budget Arcam owner. Honestly

And I believe you and was not suggesting you would not be like that. I don't think I've made myself very clear but I tried. Believe me Thaiman, I was not berating you whatsoever. I've probably learned as much from you on this forum as anyone.

 

[Thaiman]

No worry (never was really

) If you ever come to Norfolk, very welcome to have a

on me

 

[up the music]

I offer no real answers here, only food for thought.

I think that we should note that while there is generally a correlation between price and performance, they are two different continuums. High end to me refers to performance and not to price, whereas budget refers to price, not performance.

Time tends to lower the 'high endedness' of products too. An esoteric CD from the mid 80's may compare to the standard of current budget units. The old high end is now low end.

Whether something is expensive also seems to depend on who you are talking to. I'd expect Thaiman would consider my 3000 quid (in 1997) amp as mid price. My friends would think that to spend that much on an amp you'd need to be rich and insane.

Drawing these points together, in 1997 the original owner of my amp spent nearly 3 grand on a moderately high end, pretty expensive amp.
New designs have come about since, improving the performance you're likely to get for that sort of money, thus reducing the competetiveness of this amp.
When I bought it 2 years ago for 600 quid, I think I got a fairly good price. A price which I can at least begin to justify to my friends. I'd be surprised to find a new amp for that money which sounds as good. It's the same amp, it's just not as high end as it was when new. Better design has reduced it's comparative performance. It has become more budget (and 2nd hand too) though to compensate me for this.

Much the same can be said of my Linn LP12 turntable.

 

[Thaiman]

up the music: I'd expect Thaiman would consider my 3000 quid (in 1997) amp as mid price.

No, not quite but I can tell you from my experienced that Dealers are the one that will dedicated the status of Hifi brand.
Many system back, I had a gorgeous DK design reference MK 3 amp which I thought it was a steal at the price. The RRP of £3200 which you really can't call cheap no matter who you are. At the time I was fancy a change to GamuT (still here btw

) so I rang a well known 2nd hand High end dealer up to see how much could he buy it for. He wasn't interest in the amp! saying that the amp wasn't highend enough for his shop. The fact that the DK's 2nd hand price (not private sale) was around £1400 - £1600 but he was selling Audio Research amp in his shop for well under a grand told me what high-end really is?

It's not how much your Hifi cost you...It is all the about "name first - high price (close) second"

 

[Anonymous]

If the Cambridge pair are considerd bugdet what on earth do you class a nice alba midy system as???? I would say mid range purely on the fact that there is a class below it that has to start the range ladder if you like.

 

[Anonymous]

Re High End?
That's a really interesting question!

Might it be thought of as a combination of exclusivity, design, brand image and cost? Then of course it might even sound good, but I have heard some that are fatiguing on my ears!

We should also consider our senses and the musical enjoyment / experience. What has been seen (as already mentioned in past posts) is the rapid developments in technology, leading to purer signal paths, improved/larger power supplies far cheaper and new generations of processing.
Quite simply value for money has never been better.

Hi End has always maintained it aloofness over mainstream products and that might be its greatest appeal for those who can afford it.

 

[Anonymous]

For me, anything that costs upwards of £3k per component is the beginning of high end.