The Audiophile world is alive and well, at the same time the HEA world is declining (dying) fast. No surprise! What is a surprise though is how long the over priced market was able to hang in there, new and used. The decline actually started back in the mid 90's but the used market boom kept things going for the audio closet collectors. Keep in mind there's a difference between a high price trophy collector and an audiophile listener.
What you don't see a lot of on these types of sites and forums are the hundreds of thousands who gave up the revolving door chase years ago as they settled into their listening enjoyment and canceled their membership in the amp of the month club (some would say amp of the month scam).
A while ago there was a thread talking about the long lists of owned equipment members had over a period of time. Some of the lists were viewed as a badge of honor if you went through a gazillion brands and or models. But the ones that I found the most interesting were the lists where you could see a path of successful listening instead of the guy who changes out his products before his caps, resistors and other parts had enough time on them to even break a sweat.
You know, you see many guys in HEA that say how long they've been doing this audio trading, never settling in to "their" sound, never truly even understanding stereo. If I was part of the next generation of Audiophile you wouldn't catch me taking advice from someone who has been doing this forever and still can't find their happy place. I don't see the next generation of listeners biting of the same apple. Thank God!
mg
www.michaelgreenaudio.net