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what is a high end component ?

the term "high end" is used to connote excellence of construction and sound.

yet there is no clear description or definition of the term.

sometimes the word is used in the context of marketing, advertsing to increase the probability of a sale.

it is hard to establish a benchmark for or an objective standard for quality of construction.

i have a suggestion for evaluating the aspect of sound quality.

i believe that high end is synonymous with minimal distortion. the question is how to define distortion, as it is multi dimensional and how to measure it.

in addition, an algorithm or equation combing the types of distortion would need to be developed to arrive at a quantitative rating.

i suspect however, that listening is the key and that ultimately it would be useful for expert listeners to judge distortion by listening, or failing that to evaluate a component or stereo system and assign the label high end or not high end. yes there will be disagreement. yes this is not scientific. it would be interesting to see if say 75 % of alistening panel could agree.

otherwise what we are left with is the term being heavily influenced by price of component, manufacturer and appearance.

any ideas
mrtennis
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gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Interesting idea Entrope. After all, I have based just about all of my buying decisions in the last 11 years of audio equipment on "other's" opinions, whether they were published reviews, opinions of friends or discussion threads here on Audiogon. Kind of a collective concensus.

LOL @ Elizabeth!
jond's avatar
jond
5,911 posts
 
Um, who cares? I mean if you like a piece of gear then you like it, who cares if some arbitrary expert says it's "high end". I honestly think that it's thinking like that which makes audio so forboding for novices who might appreciate a good stereo.
entrope
482 posts
 
Gunbei-

I am sure 100% of the audio community buys that way. Unhappily it puts many at the mercy of heavily biased (advertising) opinions which are readily available as opposed to the more moderately biased user opinions which can require some effort to ferret out.

Isn't "unbiased opinion" an oxymoron?
mrtennis OP
3,295 posts
 
an unbiased opinion is not an oxymoron. here's why.

there is knowledge and there is opinion.
if there is evidence and no pre judgment. having experiences and then having an opinion as a result of an experience is not bias.

example: if i don't like a food, never having eaten it, it's a biased opinion. if i have eaten a food 10 times and don't like it, it is hardly biased.

if i look at an amp and don't like it before listening to it, it's a biased opinion.

if i listen to an amp, in the context of a stereo system, 50 times and then don't like it, it is an opinion based upon some evidence. that's hardly biased.
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