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What makes up an

Wondering what makes an audio system "high end". Is it name brand, price paid or simply what your ears discern as quality? In the current issue of TAS several budget systems are also described as "high end". Most of the components in these "budget high end" systems looked very enticing to me. What do you think?
darkkeys

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shadorne
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I can't tell you what it is or exactly what it takes - but it is immediately recognizable when you hear it.
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shadorne
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Dr Floyd Toole during his NRC days found three things were important to listeners (they performed rigorous tests). Wide Dispersion, flat frequency response and low distortion. I'd propose that this is a basic requirement but there is a lot of cheap stuff that does this well at low volumes. (For example...even Audioengine A5's sound pretty good!)

So perhaps "high-end" is mostly distinguished by the fact that a "high end" system will do these three things well at realistic live music SPL levels. Just two cents...
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