🤔 Are Audiophiles REALLY Going Extinct?

Is the audiophile hobby on its last legs?
Are high-end audio systems a thing of the past? Is the audiophile community dying out? Share your thoughts as I share mine in this video.

Explore the factors contributing to the perception of decline in the audiophile hobby. I discuss the future of the audiophile hobby and bring perspective to recent reports.

In particular, I examine the role of social media in shaping the future of the audiophile landscape. Are these platforms helping to revitalize the hobby, or are they contributing to its decline?

[AudiophileJunkie]

Forgot to mention another good point brought up in the video... Headphones.

More audiophiles should embrace the quality that exists now with headphones and more traditional audiophile mfgs should enter this market.

Young people are spending lots of money on headphones and the quality actually supercedes many traditional systems because of low distortion, perfect impulse response, no crosstalk, and no room related issues.

[bluejeanscable]

Great points here Jason. I do think marketing needs to catch up. The youtubers like you are at the forefront of this, companies are lagging

[danbailey]

I have infected my 2 40s year old sons with the bug by handing down my old gear. One got my 70s integrated Onkyo amp and the other with some early 2000 gear. I think one will go head long into the hobby and one a little more casual interest.

[joppepeelen]

i am glad you are really down to earth, not many reviewers take into account expenses or audio foolery. lookd you are not the person that feels the need to buy something because it has a big price tag. while saying some persons do. and that might be their hobby... buying expensive stuff that looks expensive and want to show off. i must say these youtube beefs.... kind of sad. then again. there is one person that just listens to something and get paid for certain reviews and a guy that gets paid in sales for his belief... they should add one that does not profit anything... and has a bit more knowledge about some of the things :) and bann words like a veil or a curtain drawn away etc...

[psyphonyxaudio]

I definitely try to share my content on all platforms .. when I can.
This is a great deep dive how things work .. Hopefully we can keep aware of how this works.

[wolfgangpohlmann]

It’s kind of an old guys hobby by design. When you‘re younger, have the house full of kids and you pay down the mortgage, you have other priorities. The time for audiophilia will come afterwards.

[ronaldmcdonald]

The tech tools and the people wielding them keep getting better, the products smaller, and the prices more affordable.
There will always be a market for great sound, and a place in that market for all of us.

[EuphoricImpact]

Well, I am Black American, south of 50, and also a leftist. I have been an audiophile for at least thirty-four years.

I do not go to shows. I hate the idea of enveloping myself with salespeople. When I travel, I visit stores, frequent listening parties at fellow musicians, and fellow music lovers homes. Most of these folks will never label themselves an audiophile, but they are.

However, most music lovers I know 1) do not consider this a hobby, 2) rarely sale anything they purchase, and 3) finally... limit certain buzz words/phrases like "being on a audiophile journey or holographic presentations".

We tend to stick to using real music terms. Ones that professional musicians use in the field.

I hope what we have now does die and is replaced with less negativity regarding class snobery. Greatly increasing the scope of lower price but quality items. And more people that see the equipment being a slave to the music. Not being addicted to equipment.

[odizcvw]

The Bach demo is a great example of exposing people to audiophilia.
Lots of people listen to music. Likely on their phone with ear buds or car stereo while driving. They may have a stereo, but still not get the audio illusion of an audiophile system. I had a stereo from 1970 to 2003 and never knew what a sound stage was. The speakers were in a bookcase up against a wall and did not image. Then by accident I heard it and became intrigued to make incremental improvements all the while marveling at the illusion of a 3d sound stage. My transformation came when I bought Totem speakers and read about the efforts the founder/designer went to perfect imaging. With that I gave the speakers a little room to breath and started to get what all the excitement was about.
IMHO, if the industry is to expand, we need to find ways to organically demonstrate what great audio with a holographic stage sounds like. Many will not care, but many will have that ah ha moment.

[koen-mj]

I think audiophile equipment is starting to reach its way into several hobbies other that just us geeks obsessing over audio.

I’d argue, the bouts hobbies barrier for entry has just reached stupid expensive. This was one way of companies giving the ‘F you!’ To the mainstream.

Gaming has a VERY LARGE majority of the audiophile world nowadays.

The industry just needs to find a way to become more mainstream and affordable and to grow.

[carminedesanto]

Good morning to Toronto.☕️🍩
I’m over 60 and I truly still adore great sound and interesting music .

Hope all goes well with your mom and family always comes first🙏

Stats in the death of the Audiophile..I think it comes back to median age, income health and more importantly does music have (especially at high end playback) is it important to you ?

I still make time for listening to music along with my other hobbies..time is indeed the fire that we burn.

Hope to match you in Toronto next month.
Have a great weekend.

[jazzboy]

Great vid! Audiophile is a self anointed title and can mean pretty much anything. Some play music to enjoy the gear while others buy gear to enjoy music and it's all good. The problems start when folks with little or no actual knowledge start spouting. The biggest deficit I currently see is the complete lack of understanding of digital audio, sad but really funny at times, really funny with repackaged $25 switches with jewels glued to components inside.

The snobbery while being oblivious is starting to turn off potential young buyers. Audio should be fun and joyful not a contest.

[RLable]

apart from money, lifestyle is an issue. for example, even if i could afford Magico M9s or even my beloved Acora VRC, there is no way i could play them in my loft condo building. The newer generations (especially here in Canada where there are housing shortages) are tending to live in apartments and condos and that may make it more challenging to get into audiophile equipment that you would only use at a fraction of its potential. Similarly, the newer generations first experiences with audio are through apple headphones so they are used to listening at a personal level. Growing up i did listen to audio at home but i really got into it through car audio (gotta love Rockford Fosgate's "if your mirrors aint shakin you got takin" slogan lol) and again, fewer people are driving these days. Perhaps my views are skewed living in the largest city in Canada though.

[rrd]

It seems that no matter how far you go or how much money is spent, there's always someone waiting with the latest $100, 000 ultra DAC or $500, 000 super loudspeaker, and of course you're caught in the upgrade merry-go-round. I've listened to reviewers describe a component as the creme de la creme and the best they've ever heard, only to come back a month or year later with a new and more expensive champ. It seems best to self edit and build a musically satisfying system. Now you can relax and enjoy, and get off the upgrade merry-go-round.

[Carl-bdrf]

Are audiophiles a dying bread? Hope so…most not all, but all too many are snobs.

Funny you mention Danny and Andrew! I’ve had keyboard conversations with both of em. And a phone conversation with one of em.
You’re right about the drama, but heck isn’t that half the fun!
I think I’ve rubbed both the wrong way as they’ve gone dead silent in regard to my comments on their channels.
Oh well, say la vie.

[tothemax]

As long as there is music production audiophilia isn't dying. Paint by numbers until it fits journalism on the other hand!?!

[BeyondResolution]

The audiophile world has never been easier to enter than now.. the state of budget gear has never been better. But ofcourse you have the big bump in wireless and lifestyle speakers that many people find good enough. But at the same time, that is a way in to audio for many.. some of them might even buy a better setup later on.

That the age of audiophiles is somewhat high is just because you have a more stable life then and more disposable income.

So if we embrace the people in the budget market we will see that there have never been more audiophiles then now.. :)

And to recruit more people.. encurage younger people to buy the cheap stuff.. don't dis them on forums and on facebook and scare them with "oh you need this 5000$ speakercable", "that streamer sucks.. just a chifi dac" and so on.. welcome them, and let them fall in love with the hobby! :)

[carminedesanto]

If space is a problem..great music can be enjoyed with headphones and IEM’s 😋

[ccdccd]

I don’t think the “hobby” is dying, but it I believe it will be undergoing a good deal of change in the near future. The current model is unsustainable. There are too many companies chasing too little business. There are too few opportunities to hear equipment (apart from shows) and online reviewers are forced by their economic model to go from the “best” model this week to next week’s “best model.” This is madness!

[davidrivera]

Well, high-end two channel audiophile hobby (passion) customers are indeed males of the boomer and early Gen x generation, but not just "white". In reality the ultra highend customers are mostly Asian. All younger audiophiles ( under 40) are into headfirst, read quality headphones with seperate dac/ amp. They use this audio setup at work listening to music as they work, and also as they play video games ( music as background). Market research reveals that these younger headfi enthusiasts will indeed end up as two channel stereo enthusiasts as they are exposed to hi end gear and their financial situation improves.