High-end audio equipment is purported by the manufacturers to be the best, regardless of what it might turn out to cost. High-end audio equipment can be extremely expensive. It is sometimes referred to as cost-no-object equipment. Owners of high-end audio are either audiophiles or conspicuous consumers. Audiophiles run the gamut from budget to high-end in terms of equipment price range and are primarily concerned with the quality of music reproduction (accuracy with personal prefer

High-end audio can refer to the build quality of the components, but more specifically, refers to the ability to reproduce a recording with the highest fidelity to the original performance that has been committed to the recording. Typical qualitative attributes that are scaled by audiophile publications and experts are accuracy vs. warmth, tonal color vs. speed, timbre, size of sound stage vs. depth (spatial origins), clarity, pace, timing etc, etc.

A theoretically perfect high-end audio system would create the illusion of the musical performers actually being present and performing right in front of the listener. There would be no sonic signature that imparts any clue as to the fact that the performance is a playback of a recording instead of a live performance by actual musicians in the listening room. This is obviously more important with performances involving acoustical instruments and without studio manipulations of vocals.