What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

Everything comes back around.

It’s going to be cool to see what happens with dsp. There are so many things that can be done with it. I’m looking forward to the endless tweeks that a system of 10 self powered “audiophile” quality dsp enabled speakers will provide.

All the reasons above leads one to the conclusion that the prices are too high for the current state of the market.

A) the economy sucks for most people except the rich
B) the rich are more interested in fads, like Sono, Bose, etc
C) there's way too much HEA out there already
D) the few younger, poorer audiophiles (like myself) are having a great time exploring vintage audio.  Why spend $1000s when $100s on craigslist can get you an incredible system?

advance in music format such as streaming have some part of the issue.
Why pay for a fiscal format if you can stream it with a nice DAC you will have very similar effect.
This affects the front end of the equation.
The Younger audience is not interested in HEA, because they mostly were not exposed to it. 

@akaim8 you really make an excellent case.

I'll extend your position by mentioning Amazon Alexa.  My sister's family and my best friend's fall into my demographic, mid-late 40s.  Neither has an audio rig, though my buddy put together an Onkyo based system in the early 90s that one could argue represented HEA at the time, albeit at the lower end.  Both families really love music, so it's not for lack of interest.  Both now have Alexa in their home, with speakers across several rooms.  Whenever I'm at their homes, most of the time music is playing, preceded by, "Alexa, play me Steve Earle's best songs."  I can't tell you how many other people I hear talking about using Alexa in the same way