First off, from what I can see the way Oppo did this seems very classy. MGA and RoomTune wish them all the best. Long before Oppo was born Jim Bookhard and myself started making the statement "High End Audio, as we know it, is done"(mid 90's). To us, the writing was so clearly on the wall it was hard to miss. However High End Audio kept being able to give the appearance of superiority for the following some few years.
What was clear to us was that the younger generation was never going to buy into the over the top expensive products, when products for a fraction of the cost sounded better. Sure some people would remain loyalist to the High End Reviewers to the very end, or till their bank accounts ran dry, but there was more. Fact is what we knew as Mid-Fi or even low end caught up to High End in the sound department. High End Audio was so busy creating the next best over built and complicated product they didn't even care that their days were numbered. Most of them (designers and rags) still can't quite believe the new school has out done the old school. But, as time goes on the High End Audio is looking like the horse driven buggy vs the car. Technology slows down for no one.
I'm not even talking about ear buds, smart phones and cans. I still believe the room rules and is the ultimate playground for serious listening. Put In-Tune the listening room is the final frontier, at least for this next level of audiophile. Using rooms as listening/living rooms may not cut it, but dedicated listening rooms are and will remain the cats meow. The daze of putting a very expensive High End Audio system in a room setup horrible and only being able to play "audiophile" recordings never was going to go anywhere and started loosing ground as soon as the listening buddy factor started. That world was never going to make it past the audio club ABA blind fold testing night. A group of geeky freaky old plug & play farts doesn't make a dent any more than poker night with the boys. Fun yet not relevant to the serious listener.
How much longer will it take is the question. One answer to this is found on TuneLand where we took a $29.00 CDP and $100.00 receiver and beat up on some over $40,000.00 systems without breaking a sweat, proving it wasn't about the bucks, but the method. The other answer will be found with some of the younger music lovers teaching the oldie but goodie folks about new listening. Either way don't look for the survival of the over built, over complicated and over priced to make it much longer, except for a few strong willed believers of the original High End Audio boat anchor club.
michael green
www.michaelgreenaudio.net
