Any Young Audiophiles Out There?

first audiophile system by 16, (magnepans to a jolida tube amp), 26 now.... two audiophile systems, enough in the closet for at least 1-2 more systems, enough cables for 5 more systems....

hmm... I need to clean out the closet!

I delivered newspapers and mowed lawns in elementary and junior high school to buy my first Technics receiver and Infinity Qa speakers, which I upgraded to an SME tonearm, Grado Signature cartridge, Hafler amps and Magneplanars by the time I was 15.

30 years later, I still treasure every spare minute I can find to read, study or experiment with the 4 systems and spare components now in my house, and still love to discover some new music or revisit favourite old music.

I may be wrong, but my sense is if I grew up listening mostly to hip hop and/or the Jonas Brothers none of this would have ever happened.

No, I think the hobby is thriving. As you stated, most of the guys in their late teens or early twenties are not as financially established. But they are into it alright. You just need to find the right crowd. :-)

Most of them are over at Head-Fi.org. And people get together often where they live. I participated in a few gatherings a few years back. They get pretty serious too. The crowd ranges from teenagers to old folky. And they enjoy comparing headphones, amps, different sources and cables. So it's encouraging. For the money, you can't beat what you can get out of a pair of good headphones. (But I still prefer listening to speakers)

I started with my first system when I was 22.

FrankC

FrankC makes a really important observation regarding headphone listening. I honestly believe that this is where the younger generation can really get an opportunity to sample better sound. A relatively inexpensive upgrade to a half-decent pair of Senns, Grados or in-ear monitors and a person will quickly understand just how bad the stock ear buds have made their music sound. This is the first step and it is not a huge step from this to wanting their music to sound as good at home as it does through their 'phones and looking to upgrade from treble screeching computer speakers.

I'm encouraged by how many younger kids I see with decent headphones on their iPods and equally I'm amazed by how many of the older generations (40+) I see wondering around with the stock ear buds - I can't help shaking my head and wondering about these people having no idea what they are missing.

I am 40+ and I own and use Grados, Shures, Sennheisers and Etymotics with both Grado and Headroom external headphone amplifiers.

Most kids I see these days are listening to ear buds, and usually with hip hop or the Jonas Brothers, as noted above which may not encourage the use of high fidelity equipment.

The reason I know this is because I can hear their choice of "music" and the distortion of their earbuds very clearly whenever I take the New York subway, even from a few feet away and over and above the noise of the train.

To be clear, I am talking about the E train to Fifth Avenue in midtown, so the music could be different on the outskirts of town.

But I maintain that the decline of civilization is at least partially to blame.