Where does "MidFi" differ from "HiFi" or "LOFI"?

@fleschler , take $1000 budget (low-fi) and try and replicate an active system like that, going old school, one component at a time. Inadequate at MSRP, yes.

You take an active system like SVS, Paradigm PW, etc. and you catapult right into "adequate" (office, bedroom, second system) mid-fi performance. 

You are an expert with high audio IQ and a custom built room, that is inadequate for you, yes. But to buy one component, meticulously engineered, plug and play, lowfi price, solid mid-fi performance = adequate for most people IMO.

Adequate for most people include some of my professional vocalists friends (older) who are old school and own a Marantz or Yamaha receiver from the 1970s, Advent/Warefdale/JBL speakers, ordinary (cheap) cabling, a Harmon Kardon or Technics turntable and 1980s or 1990s common name brand CD player.  Sounds good, not audiophile, but satisfying to them.  That group can be purchased just over $1K.  

the paradigm pw600 are on sale $600 a pair,sound like much,much more than a $2000 system

@secretguy  +1

and as Andrew Robinson loves to say, and it's again worth heeding him: 

"The only person who has to like the sound of your system is you."

MidFi is almost a derogatory term relative to HiFi being an elitist term. There’s obviously never going to be a consensus on a definition.

I don’t think price should be the primary factor. Is budget minded gear automatically excluded from being HiFi? Can too many features exclude a product from being HiFi?

My system is absolutely HiFi if judged by any normal person, but is nowhere near the upper echelons within the HiFi community.

Examples:

I think my Pathos Classic One Mkiii qualifies as HiFi. It is a basic integrated amplifier with separate preamp and power amps within a single chassis.

I think my Denafrips Ares II DAC may be borderline MidFi because of its price point, but is only a DAC and does not include extras like headphone amplifiers and such.

I think my Focal 836v speakers may be borderline MidFi because they are not hand made. They were the top model in the “production line” products.

At the risk of offending some, maybe HiFi starts when you start to pay attention to things like cables because they make a meaningful difference.