I live in a highly affluent town of a NE state (translated, most of my neighbors are one percenters I gather) and I'm one of two people I know of who have a tangentially high end system. Most everyone else has just a home theatre with built in speakers hidden in the ceiling if they have anything at all. There are likely more model train collectors than people with multiple component systems.
While friends tell me they enjoy what they hear at my place, no one seems interested in the complexity of what passes for high end. If friends knew I have fancy interconnects (let alone power cords) and have agonized over the great question of our age (which file format to use), they'd tell me to seek treatment for OCD.
It seems that product complexity and snobbery by manufacturers, retailers and users have worked to make this an increasingly niche hobby by aging males with expanding waistlines and receding hairlines, at least based on what I see at stores and shows.
While friends tell me they enjoy what they hear at my place, no one seems interested in the complexity of what passes for high end. If friends knew I have fancy interconnects (let alone power cords) and have agonized over the great question of our age (which file format to use), they'd tell me to seek treatment for OCD.
It seems that product complexity and snobbery by manufacturers, retailers and users have worked to make this an increasingly niche hobby by aging males with expanding waistlines and receding hairlines, at least based on what I see at stores and shows.