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In Reply to: RE: Follow the money? posted by Jim Pearce on July 02, 2016 at 07:53:14
...people have been forecasting the demise of high end audio for at least 20 years now.As the Baby Boomers stop buying equipment and B & M stores close, high end is diminishing, but I don't think it will ever disappear as long as people are passionate about music reproduction.
Sometimes I'm surprised at all of the 30 and 40 year olds posting here.
Younger people are listening to music more than ever with iPods, smart phones and streaming devices.
Just look at the boom in headphones.
High end will morph and change but will never go away.
Edits: 07/02/16Follow Ups:
Yes, it is true that brick and mortar stores are disappearing, but, that is the case with all forms of retailing, particularly the big department stores are in trouble, but, I don't see an uptick in naked people running around. People are buying stuff more stuff on line. Also, while interest in audio has declined in the US and Europe (change in interest, lower real wages for the middle class), there has been a lot of growth in Asia. A lot of the very high end manufacturers sell much more in Asia than they do in the west.
I agree that even if there is a decline of interest here, there will always be people seeking out better sound and so high end audio will never die out completely. To me, the more distressing current trend is the public actually favoring the sound of modern recordings--highly compressed, tizzy and processed. It isn't just the case that recording companies are cramming crap down the public's throat, the public actually likes this kind of sound.
> ...the public actually likes this kind of sound.>
The public likes music - they don't know the difference in sound quality until they hear something better.
Remember, we grew up listening to 8-tracks, cheap record changers and cassettes.
And we became audiophiles.
I dunno mkuller: maybe it's my manufacturing background that rebels against statements like this. Or maybe I was too committed 20 years ago to the vision of stereo/multichannel music crafted from source to reproduction in the home for maximum fidelity. Somehow the idea that there will always be a market of some finite size for some more expensive audio stuff strikes me as being trivial and empty. Sure there are qualitative trends we can talk about - especially the trend to more selfish enjoyment (headphones) - but I wasn't suggesting that the audio media were deficient in doing that.
> ...the trend to more selfish enjoyment (headphones)...>Very few audiophiles listen to their main systems with others.
Headphones can be very considerate of others who don't want to be disturbed.
High end has been changing along with music media and will never be like it was in the 1980s.
How will you know?
Look at the proliferation of components costing over $20,000 ea - someone is buying them.
Edits: 07/02/16
Not so much: with $20,000 price points a small "manufacturer" might break even on a couple of dozen units.
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