What's going on with the audio market?

Good point whart.

You are all right on. IMHO
I am 53, 35, forever into eternity (God's system rocks!)

My first, full-time job out of high school was in an audio showroom.
I took a "raisin' kids" break for 10 years, due to limited $$$, but have now looked to rebuild a system. It has been bizarre. First instinct was to return to what I had-ish. Old school media, etc.

Due to a major shift in musical taste I booted my entire content at the 10 year ago point.

This means, now I am both old school (in muscle memory) and new school (in building EVERYTHING from scratch).

Options like Class D amps, MQA encoding, $15/mo unlimited content and Roon Labs to play it, etc., is cramping my memory muscle.

I have ended up returning to what I knew, more so, especially as the new is REALLY new and I want no to live on the bleeding edge. Yet, I wonder about just how good the old stuff I have bought still is (not an engineer, DIY type). I look at the bottle of De-Oxit I bought and wonder if I want to learn how to use it at the expense of my $4000 Audiogon system (McCormack, Azur, Inifinity, Transparent -- to give you a sense) or, just wait for the "next-fen" gear to purchase.

Frankly, the real rub seems to be that in no way can I imagine ever buying the content in traditional media to support a "best system" -- even if the system were given to me free in a will!

That media would have to become much less expensive than it is now, especially in it's currently inflated "fad stage". This said, I will admit a great challenge I see in the subscription service (MQA) option is being able to know the source. Honestly, I think therein lies the great opportunity of this age. To make an MQA encoded digital content library worthy of the old school, class A, gear. A library provable as drawn from the purest spring and put in a digital pipe to drink.

Whatever gear elegantly serves both ear and pipe fitting will do just fine in the market place.

Next to all that, but entirely separate, is the great recession we are only now beginning to come out of. Twice a century, a major business cycle event happens, such as we have just had. In the last 100 years, it was the great depression and the great recession.

Following such an event the recovery tail is MUCH longer than the normal 3-4 years of a standard business cycle. It can be 10-15 years before an economy "returns" in all ways. This is a correct statement to the record of the last 700 years!

Where we are now, two things are real (historically and I believe also today) the upper 20% of the population sees around 5% growth in their wealth (mostly from investment) as the markets recover first. The other 20% have a flat wealth experience during the flatter main street recovery tail.

Two results in behavior:
1. Luxury items are ON HOLD!
1. Populous politics rule.

SO.
Audio is experiencing a metamorphosis in content form and delivery.
Wallets owned by the masses are closed for another few years.
Folks with last gen gear/content are in a season where they should enjoy the music and put me in their will.

(Am I joking?)

"Enjoy the music"!
Lan

BTW, I like Hans Beekhuyzen's reviews!

Lotta Colorado guys in this thread. I suggest you already have the best sonic tweak available in your state. Legal weed. May need no other upgrades.

rippet - Your observation certainly applies to me. Key lies in being satisfied. Weed expedites that transition but it can be accomplished without as well. Going all the way back to the penny stock days, we see that the driving force behind or hobby has been dissatisfaction with what we own. That dissatisfaction is now focusing ever more on the whole predatory exploitive industry that evolved to exploit our dissatisfaction in the first place. 
Come on out to Colorado and grow your own tweak. It's a better DIY than tube rolling or making your home brew cables. Speaking of brew, Colorado was the birthplace of the home brewing phenomenon that grew into the craft beer industry. I would suggest that it is the best state in the country. And if those who don't agree stay away, we can keep it that way. Nice to have RMAF in your backyard too. 

Interesting examination: 
57, 35, as soon as this next system hits pay dirt!

Why the quest? Why not?
I've had what i call a scratch the surface  system. Combo 2-channel/ home theater. Anthem AVM 40, Anthem MCA 20 and 30, OPPO 95, Paradigm Studio 100s v5 and Analysis Plus Solo Crystal cabling.
Been so busy the last few years fell off the audio map and to be honest was quite content with the sound of things.

I like the Studio 100s so when I came across pictures of Paradigms 30th Anniversary Tribute speakers which I did not even know existed till a few months ago I was smitten as in lust!  Would their sound justify the upgrade cost or just look fresh like a new girlfriend? Long story short found a new pair and bought them (no audition). 

Set up the Tributes and while not night and day the outstanding difference was in the open top end of the Beryllium tweeters. The bells and cymbals stood out but were also silky and not harsh. Broke them in pretty good and cranked them up a little one day with a SACD of Steely Dan's Everything Must Go. The tight slam of the bass and drums made the  hair stand up on my neck! Wow that is impressive! Gotta move and get a dedicated room for this! 

Now I'm waist deep in the forums and like they say be careful what you look for cause............boy those Pass Labs amps get great reviews across the boards! Are my pockets deep? Not so much. 

Then why is there an X250.8 on the way? Like Chevy Chase said in vacation before he skinny dipped with Christie Brinkely.....this is crazy, this is crazy.
I'm pretty sure (and so is my wife) that I've opened a not so small can of worms! My kids are too busy to look up from their iPhones and tablets to notice.

I really hope the law of diminishing returns is not too hard on me.

We'll see