Younger audio enthusiasts are into headphone rigs. Who can blame them. Not everybody's going to have tens of thousands for stereo stuff. When I went looking into headphones I realized the interest was by younger guys on youtube rather than old guy magazines. I don't think interest has declined but insane pricing was never sustainable.
How rare is an audiophile
I’ve been extremely busy lately and not had a chance to sit back and listen to music on my system for a few weeks. I’ve streamed my favorite music in the car and on a small JBL Flip-4 portable speaker; which by the way “punches way above its size class.” I continued to enjoy music whenever, wherever, and however i can during this “dry spell.”
So now its 5 am Sunday morning. I know i’ll be spending most of the day listening on the JBL when my wife and I drive out to a lake house we bought recently and are furnishing and getting ready for 4 generations to enjoy lake life this summer and for years to come.
I’ve let my system warm up and hit play on my CD player. I now find myself in total bliss listening to Chris Standing’s newest CD “The Lovers Re-mix Collection.” The effect of the quality of the sound of the music my wife and i are enjoying right now with a cup of coffee is hard to explain, but it brought literal tears of joy.
I started thinking, how many people are like us? What % of the population are audiophiles (whatever your definition of an audiophile is)?
I know the answer is heavily dependent on which country you live in. I live in the US along with ~332,000,000 fellow citizens (please, lets not get political on the meaning of population or citizen).
Are we the 0.1%ers? Are there ~332,000 audiophiles in the US?
i’d be interested in what others think about how rare our species is.
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HiIFI+ last year said this: "The percentage of the population under the age of 42, but old enough to be interested in audio is 43%." Those older are considered more inclined towards audio. The increasing population growth results in, "in financial terms the total market is about 3X what it was." > https://hifiplus.com/articles/changing-demographics-critical-to-audio-marketing/ EXTREMELY conservative estimates peg the number at 150,00 (based on "hard" data that doesn't take into account all the headphone systems & more. |
@mahler123 Well, I have 7 living audiophile friends. I asked 3 of them today if they ever discussed music or audiophilia with their physicians (and myself included that's 4). None of us discussed music or audiophilia with our physicians except one who wen to an audiologist (for ear wax). Oh, I remember I did 51 years ago when I was 16 when I had tinnitus (due to severe earwax buildup) that it disturbed my music performance and listening_. |
@mahler123 Generally, you are correct. The president and founder (deceased) Dr. Braun (head of thoracic surgery Kaiser, cantor and a fine orchestral violist) of the Jewish Music Commission (new classical and Jewish ethnic oriented music grants and archives) had a 60's Marantz receiver and bookshelf speakers. Half a dozen cantors I know are thrilled to share music in my home for hours, none of them have audiophile equipment in the least (one was a former vocalist for 100s of Disney cartoons). Other members of my choirs (probably numbering over 100 over 50 years) are/were not audiophiles either My sister who is a local opera quality vocalist and members of the Viklarbo Chamber orchestra have nominal audio (cheap) audio gear. I guess it's only me. I just happen to know several dozen Los Angeles area audiophiles of which a couple are physicians and are also my best friends. |
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