The term 'lifestyle' connotes the importance of considerations other than the music or sound quality, often but not always something inferior or a compromise. Maybe that's a bit snobbish sounding, but it's usually a Marketing department using the word. The point really is that there's a huge variety of needs people have for different configurations of gear, along a spectrum of price points.
What gets marketed as 'lifestyle' gear may be somewhat gimmicky or make sonic compromises, but represents a company's effort to fill a market niche, and good on them for doing so (shoddy quality excepted of course). Formerly YB-2 makes a great point that integrateds aren't definitionally 'lifestyle' products but have their place in the market, as any amplifying or controlling product does.
__________________
Sources: Vinyl: Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable with 9" Universal tonearm, Da Vinci V2 cartridge, Stillpoints SS & Stillpoints clamp, McIntosh MVP 901, Apple Mac mini via Benchmark DAC 1, Aurender N100C via Schiit Yggdrasil
Control: McIntosh C1100, Mcintosh MX151
Power: Mcintosh MC2301s (front), McIntosh MC501 (center), Mcintosh MC402 (rear)
Speakers: Sonus Faber Amati Futura (front and back), SF Vox center
Power/connections: PS Audio Power Port receptacles, RGPC 400 pro (2) WireWorld interconnects and speaker cable
|