High End is Dead?

I don't know how I'd measure the health of HEA.  The number of dealers with real shops is way down in my experience.  The used market it much less vibrant than it used to be based on my awareness of sites that sell used HEA gear.  The number of people I personally know who have any interest in gear, over multiple decades, has always been either zero or one, so not much indication there.

HEA shows seem to be doing well.  The magazines seem healthy and relevant.  The amount of people designing and producing high-end gear seems to be as robust as ever.  

Unless one wants to define the specific criteria, I don't think you can say whether it's thriving, dying, or in-between.  It's definitely changing, but so is everything else.

My 24 year old son-in-law Just picked up some Elac B5's, and a lower level Project turntable. He had picked up 20-30 records getting ready. I wanted him to enjoy his 1st system so I donated a decent Rotel integrated amp, and he loves it. Sounds better than my system at his age.

I am waiting to make sure he listens and it doesn't just sit there, but I think I might have gotten another convert into this hobby. 

+1 @michaelgreenaudio @gnaudio @whart

The great high end store Excalibur in Alexandria Va closed around 1986. Among other things they had the big dog Infinity Reference System in the large room and the then new Martín Logans in one of upstairs rooms. Since then the high end has been like a wounded wildebeest running through the Kalaharii. Know one knows for sure how long he’s going to keep on going. The recent economic depression could not have been very encouraging for anyone with aspirations of making a big splash in the high end. Can you say downsize?

We can’t lay blame on those darn kids today who’ve grown up listening to music on their phones/tablets/Bluetooth speakers/Alexa because their reference points for “good equipment” are limited by those very things.  My reference point was my family’s console tube driven Magnavox record player which - *gasp* - could hold and drop 5 lp’s in succession. I had nowhere to go but up in the 70’s when all that lustful receiver gear came out and there were more than enough retail stores to check stuff out. 

As mentioned below, getting into hi-fi then was a dream objective.  Currently, there are so many venues for music via the internet that the ease of obtaining music doesn’t at all correlate with “quality” equipment.  Stores have virtually disappeared simply due the economics of inventorying expensive gear, having to make appointments to check stuff out, etc. I love cars but I loathe buying them.  Same goes for audio. Love it, but most of my purchases via retail have been, where and when possible, walk-ins.  

The immediate appeal of music accessibility, everywhere anytime, exceeds the perception of possessing quality playback.  It’s simply not in most folks wheelhouses right now. Why would I should I spend $1000 on a good amp when I got Bluetooth streaming in my house, the den, the patio, the yard, the beach for like...a LOT less?  Jeepers, I can walk into big-box retailer and buy a groovy pair of earbuds for less than $100?

I might be able to explain a reason or two why but...

They might hear me but they aren’t listening.  It just doesn’t matter. 

Alas, HEA will never completely go the way of the dodo bird because their’s still enough of us - me, a boomer - to bequeath my stuff to my survivors when I kick.  Perhaps then they’ll get IT!