Very true.
There are many affordable systems which are a delight to listen to.
Perhaps there will no longer be a market for $100,000 speakers. But I’m not convinced this is necessarily a bad thing.
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I think a case can be made, as writer Ted Gioia says in one of his essays, that our culture is so consumed by distractions of all kinds we no longer have the attention span or desire to consume art (and real music.) No reason for accurate reproduction of music if you don’t have the attention span to appreciate it. This graphic from his article about the state of culture sums it up https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024?utm_source=publication-search
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@Photon46 I only hope the distraction / attention span epidemic can recover in some way.
All I see in the audience of pop music nowadays is phones held up to record the concert.
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When I was in my teens all my friends had a decent stereo for the time, even though most of them would not have been concerned audiophiles. Today casual listening for the youth is through earbuds instead a receiver and speakers. Some may go on to become audiophiles, most probably won’t. I knew with my first system that I had the audiophile gene.
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Which means they are into the music and not worrying about the gear. 
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I have two daughters in their 30’s and they are much more interested in spending their money on experiences (travel-visiting friends or going somewhere, bike or running races, etc.) rather than on objects. They just recently even purchased their first cars within the past year. They finally had to commute to work rather than walking or riding their bikes.
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There are many more millionaires now, as compared to 2000, at least in the US. More disposable income, I’d expect.
Explains why a lot of companies are marketing to and coming out with uber expensive audio gear. The rich are getting richer while the middle class is shrinking.
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We held up BIC lighters in my day… 
All this banter is just our consternation that, “these younger folks just don’t appreciate…[fill in your favorite gripe]”.
I believe the author of the article posted stated it best.
- Younger people have grown up with unlimited access to music, and they love music even more than those who came before them
- Today’s audiophile shows do no outreach to younger people and highlight little to no gear that they can afford.
- The reasons to buy audio gear for younger people are very different than traditional OG (original gangster) audiophiles
- Millennials, a huge demographic, tend to value “experiences” more highly than others that came before them.
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I definitely don’t agree with #1.
Not sure how the author came to the conclusion that younger people love music more than those who came before them.
#4 is a rather odd statement as well.
“Millennials tend to value experiences more highly than those that came before them”. A rather presumptuous conclusion on his part.
Audioholic, I agree. #4 I would rewrite into “Millenials tend to chronicle their experiences on photos, films, texts more than those that came before them because they have more portable media to do so with.”
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Much more accurate statement.
On #4, I think the whole notion came from studies on the topic of ‘happiness’ and wellbeing, where people tend to derive more lasting happiness from experiential purchases (such as travel, concerts, and dining) compared to material goods (like electronics or clothing).
Okay that makes more sense i guess, although I personally consider listening to music via my hifi set up, very much an experiential experience. The gear is just a means of immersing myself in the music.
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Or worse, remember when it was ‘millennials were killing chain restaurants’! lol. What a ridiculous notion…. As if people not willing to spend their hard earned money on the slop some of these places were serving was millennials fault.
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Having a 22yo son and observing his friends I think we HAVE to encourage them to listen to music, at their age they completely ignore a lot about different genres.
My son is an exception and he often tries to push his friends towards rock and so on. 90% of his friends ignore who is Mick Jagger, Lennon, Bowie and so on. They tend to lose attention when they are listening to music, in a car or by an iPhone. They rarely play an entire song, whatever it is, jumping to another one after 1 minute. Exactly like they use a social media home page, In all these cases he usually gives up, he said to me. Too much effort for nothing, they don’t want to pay attention.
It’s not only the gear, it’s also the attitude… the problem.
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Or the right music to catch their attention. It could well be a generation gap thing.
With classical, a song may last varyingly, 6’00-30’00 minutes. A popsong lasts 2’45-5’00. Nowadays, it should be one minute, I hear you say.
Did your son try to convince his friends with punk? Those were short songs!
‘Problem’ might be commercial viability and prejudice: too short to recognize (for old folk) and make money from.
Perhaps TikTok or a another new media platform could make it happen for today’s youth as a stepping stone to other formats, quality levels and our hobby.
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Jumping around between various songs was common decades ago as well. I don’t see this as an indication of the end times.
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