Overall, I think JD and Sns make some very good points.
We live in an age where we can research product in ways we'd never dreamed about 15 years ago. Likewise, we have access to that equipment, so, on a certain level, I agree with the statement of the golden age of audio being the past several years.
I will say that on the other hand, the internet revolution has completely decimated the brick and mortar dealer network. Those local dealers were where the lion's share of your audio dollar was spent. Now, most people buy used components here on Audiogon or find an internet dealer willing to prostitute the product out at the expense of the guy who's close to you - effectively putting a lot of them out of business. So, in that respect, things have been bad. In fact, real bad.
We live in an age where we can research product in ways we'd never dreamed about 15 years ago. Likewise, we have access to that equipment, so, on a certain level, I agree with the statement of the golden age of audio being the past several years.
I will say that on the other hand, the internet revolution has completely decimated the brick and mortar dealer network. Those local dealers were where the lion's share of your audio dollar was spent. Now, most people buy used components here on Audiogon or find an internet dealer willing to prostitute the product out at the expense of the guy who's close to you - effectively putting a lot of them out of business. So, in that respect, things have been bad. In fact, real bad.