Open Call to Mtry, Skeptic, Naysayers, and ABXers

[okiemax]

Mid Fi is a derogatory term invented by extremely stupid snobs who want to justify the outrageous prices they paid for equipment that may be no better in many, most, or all usable respects than far cheaper equipment. One guy's ultra high end is another's mid fi. The ultra high end of today is the mid fi of tomorrow and the mid fi of today was the cutting edge of yesterday. The rationale for buying much of the most expensive equipment on the market has nothing to do with usable performance. People who think that there is a lot which can't be measured and therefore doesn't show up in tests and specifications are mostly kidding themselves. Such differences if and when they exist are generally extremely subtle if they can be heard at all. And what you consider high end, I consider a joke. Examples? A $10,000 audio amplifier that can only produce 10 watts of power. A pair of $3000 loudspeakers which cannot reproduce the lowest octave or two of audible sound. A phonograph cartridge that costs hundreds of dollars and needs 1 1/2 grams of force to track most records. Cables costing hundreds of dollars for which not one shred of evidence exists that they perform any better than Home Depot wire except in the fantasies of the guys who bought it. To me that's all Low Fi. Low Finance that is. A total waste of money on useless oversold junk. See, it's a matter of perspective.

The term "mid-fi" may be derogatory if you feel a need to be defensive about owning audio gear you suspect is mid-fi. I certainly didn't mean to be derogatory in using the term. At times, mid-fi gear was all I owned, and I didn't feel that made me less of a person. I still use mid-fi gear in my computer room. It's much better than what came with the computer, which I would call low-fi, if I can use that term without being accused of snobbery.

Your seeing "mid-fi" in print launched you into a tirade. I don't understand why you react with such strong emotion to the fact that some people believe they can improve their listening enjoyment by buying better components. In what way have they harmed you?