High End Audio and Your hearing as you get older

WoodBurger put his finger on the hearing issue. How often have you been disappointed by a well spec'd component because it didn't sound good or surprised by a component that sounded great but didn't spec well. That scenario also works on the receiving end. Your ears can been measured by an Audiologist and spec'd lower than in the past but it doesn't mean you can't hear well unless you are severely impaired.

At 54 and having served on aircraft carriers in the Navy, and owning way too many motorcycles(using ear plugs these days) my hearing is not what it used to be. I might hear less, according to my wife, but I can still hear well. I still derive great pleasure from listening to well recorded music on a quality reproduction system.

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I'm a little disappointed to hear that I will sill be able to tell the difference between mid-fi and high end into my 80's. I was hoping by age 70 that I could save a bundle of dough by buying a one-box all-in-one system at Wal-Mart and still have audio bliss. Oh well, I guess audio will have to stay in my entertainment budget until I croak.
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As a 50 year old motorcyclist, I would like to say that with earplugs, your hearing doesn't have to suffer. Also, a windshield very often makes the wind noise much louder, as it concentrates all the wind that would be hitting your chest onto your face.

YMMV of course, especially if you can't resist the urge to use all that horsepower ;)

Mitch4t, we can still hope that there's another period like 1950-1970, where every young male had to have a good sound system. The recent interest in vinyl is a good sign. If there's a renaissance of interest in good sound, maybe the mainstream audio industry will start competing on quality again instead of features, and Walmart WILL have decent-sounding reasonably priced systems in ten or twenty years . . . But if you're turning 70 next year, sorry, ain't gonna happen:)

I think regardless of how your hearing gradually decays over time, good equipment will sound more like live music and real instruments than poorer equipment - you still have a standard for comparison, though your range has narrowed, there remains something akin to the Absolute Sound for you, and the hearing acuity you have, to judge your equipment and recordings.