High End is Dead?

The exact opposite is taking place .

phantom_av"The younger generations just cant justify their money on High End Audio. Most prefer travelling, living luxurious life styles"

These younger people do not have homes or jobs or lives away from their mommies and daddies so of course they are not interested in HEA they have not yet matured even if they are already old enough to be out on they're own.

The data is pretty clear, more people can "afford" audio gear than ever before. I would submit more people are listening to music than ever before at a higher quality level to boot.  The problem is that entry level gear is so available and affordable and the general Audiogon assumption is that it isn't as good as the gear we had when we were young and therefore it doesn't qualify, which is a suspect position to take.

EVERY person with a smartphone today can access all of their music wherever they are.  An alien concept just 20 years ago.  Thirty/forty years ago there was a large space commitment necessary and today there isn't. Just because some here don't believe an iphone feeding a dac streaming Tidal into active speakers doesn't qualify as high end doesn't make it so. Different form factors. I would argue that the iphone setup done right is superior to much of the average gear from the previous era. Let's remember, the average system in 1980 was a receiver with a marginal TT and a cassette deck using lampcord feeding Cerwin Vegas or JBL L100's or some other similar setup. FM radio was a primary driver. By the way, we can thank radio for the dynamic compression we all abhor.

Our community needs to snap out of it! The new generation is listening to music in a variety of ways on some decent gear. Its growing not shrinking. Look at Schiit Audio, Kef actives, Kanto speakers, the list goes on. New speaker manufacturers pop up seemingly every week and tube gear production is expanding. Maybe I'm just more open to new ideas than others even though I'm hardly young but I joke about it often that the days of an audio show of 70 year old white guys debating cable geometry SHOULD be behind us. That won't attract anyone to our hobby. If this hits a little too close to home, no offense intended.

Folks, cars are better today, appliances are better today, fuel consumption with virtually every energy using device is better today and the days of needing a repairman to come to the house to make your tv, stereo, fridge or washing machine work are long behind us. Its ok to appreciate the good old days but they weren't all that good when you objectively evaluate them. Listen, I appreciate my audio gear, its fun, benefits from a little tweaking (or so I keep telling myself) and I am a tube die hard but there are a few fellow audiogoners who enjoy sitting in their basements, alone in a dedicated room with a setup requiring instructions on the order of turn on/turn off to avoid disaster and 1 seat suitable to listen from.

Oh, and the class warfare BS is getting kind of old don't you think? I could make a case that there has never been a larger middle class in the history of the world than right now but if you feel you have personally been slipping down the economic ladder then I could never convince you anyway. 40 years ago, an average laborer felt middle class because they weren't destitute. 

Less and less funding for public education.
Music classes no longer standard in public schools.
Musical instrument lessons not longer offered in K-8.
Fewer and fewer bands touring up and down the coasts stopping at local venues. Live concerts are a rarity.
Young people playing video games online with their friends with soundtracks that satisfy their musical needs.

I also blame it on the music industry. No longer do we have visionaries like Ahmet Erdogan of Atlantic who embraced new music and fostered an environment of creativity. Look at what those idiot white shirts at Capital did to Beatles' and Beach Boys' music. If it werent for the sheer talent of those musical geniuses, that company would have killed any creativity.

It's harder for a younger person to have the time, inclination and desire to explore a hobby with all the competing forces in this era.

I'll keep carrying the baton and holding the torch high, but even that won't help change funadamental forces that diminish new interest and participation over time.