A Millennial recounts their journey from low-end to high-end audio.

I wrote this post to share a millennials’s perspective on the future of high-end audio, because some older Audiogoner’s appear to be upset that the high-end industry will die along with them (refer to https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/oppo-ceasing-production). Many seem to misunderstand how millennials & gen-x’s have come to listen to music.

I’m 24. I’ve been into music since I was a kid, grew up with parent’s limited cassette collection in the 90’s, older siblings CD’s in late 90’s early 2000’s. P2P file sharing software came out around the time I had my own computer in the mid 2000’s, and then came the mass downloading of MP3 music files online (before anyone my age really figured it wasn’t legal). Around then, iPods were out and you either had money to buy iTunes AAC or you imported your pirated MP3’s to the iPods. (Kids generally can’t afford extensive collections of music unless their parents were rolling in the $$$)

Guess what you would use to listen to iPods? Wired earbuds. These little in ear drivers happen to still be the predominant form of listening for youngins, except now they are becoming souped up, technology infused, wireless "Air Pods."

Eventually the iPod became the iPhone and music moved onto the smartphone. The smartphone was growing into the multimedia center, but there was an issue. Lots of music available, however smartphones had limited storage space, and the children’s pocket books are small. Solution? Streaming internet radio like Pandora. Fast forward a few years, and streaming is still the #1 method today, with Spotify v.s. Google Play v.s. Apple v.s. Amazon.

Introduce Tidal Hi-fi streaming, and you now have the convergence of streaming that millennials require, with the CD or higher source quality that we could never afford.

Once I found out that I didn’t have a Hifi system (because I couldn’t tell the difference between an MP3 stream and a 16-bit FLAC), I’ve been seeking better audio quality. It started with better headphones, then eventually getting an Amp/DAC, then getting even nicer headphones, and a dedicated tube amp, and dedicated NOS DAC. At this point I own equipment worth ~$3500 and for all intents and purposes don’t own a single CD, Vinyl, or digital music file. ALL of it is streamed. Keep in mind, I’ve barely graduated college and still have thousands in student loans so my income is quite minimal!

Recently I picked up a 90’s era pair of HiFi Japanese speakers. I dare say my tastes are moving from headphones to speakers. I won’t be able to afford $10,000 speakers anytime soon, but it’ll happen one day!