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

vintage audio sales ROCK non-stop -- that's why. It's a very competitive industry to home hi-end that has a possibility to purchase restored components that are substantially better in built quality and performance. population ain't lying compared to audiophiles -- that's basically and practically why.  checked my math and everything adds up to my statement quantitatively. 

Venture capitalist bought a lot of the high end companies.  They really are not audiophiles. Overpriced gear that doesn’t perform. Then there is a lack of knowledge on how to put systems together. Guy spends 50k on a rig then hears a 8 to 10k rig that blows his stuff away. I remember blowing 4 k on a underperforming  CD player. After I bought it the guy who sold it to me didn’t want to replace the remote when the numbers started peeling. Wow then I wanted a warm sounding player he sold me the bright sounding player. Just didn’t give a damn. That was in my early Audio years. I’ve learned so much in the last 10 years. You have to know what you are looking for. There are less physical places to listen now. The guys who do it for the love of it are leaving.  I love audio. I couldn’t sell crap to a guy just to sell it. We are losing those who love this obsession to those who are obsessed with only money!

The guys who do it for the love of it are leaving.

We are losing those who love this obsession to those who are obsessed with only money!

Amen

I had an Auralic Vega listed recently here for $1950 (it had an original price of $3495).  It was less than a year old and almost mint.  2 sold on  on eBay for about/above my asking price.  Most of the offers I received (here) were in the $950 to $1250 range.  I had one legitimate/reasonable offer but buyer was Canadian and shipping/customs was prohibitive so it didn't pan out.  Other than that offers weren't fair. That is second audio piece within year that I ended up selling locally because I couldn't get a reasonable offer here on Audiogon.   On another note, I have noticed that listings on Facebook Marketplace get much more attention than Craigslist.

Jimman2, thank you for the shared knowledge of Facebook marketplace... good stuff.

Back to the main topic:  It has been fairly common the past 2 years or so for pro reviewers to mention how revolutionary the difference in available quality sound per dollar is today compared to 10 yrs ago.  While there has always been great sound at a value available, now it is more common, whereas 5-10 yrs ago you had to be well read and an educated buyer to peg those values in quality sound.  I would dare to venture that there was even a much higher degree of buyers remorse 5-10 yrs ago than now, as one is less likely to go wrong these days.   In my eye this development in quality jump across rhe specteum seemed to occur from 7 yrs ago thru 5 yrs ago, with an explosion in the past 4-5 yrs.  That being said, it stands to reason that the used audio of 4, 6, 8, 10 yrs ago would take a substantial hit in used value given the quality available at reasonable prices today.  That being mostly true, there then perhaps developed a general market sense that most all used should come cheap, and we see lowball offers left and right driving down valuations of even truly good products.

A few examples would be, just look at the stellar reviews of emotiva products and the price point emotiva can be had for new;  then there's products like monoprice monolith 7... $1400 for a product directly compared to $2500 outlaws and emotiva; or bookshelf speakers for $300-800 with rave reviews from elac, kef, etc;  golden ear bass aplomb with seriously overzealous (imo) accolades and awards ... but tied to insanely obtainable price points;  Tekton DI for $3k;  entry level maggies for 800 ... SVS subs for 1200 that match the best of the best $3-5k subs from 7 yrs ago..
With new products like those and a Bluetooth era generation that have now come into their own, whose paying $500 for the used PS Audio SC power cable that was $1000 3 yrs ago, when they can buy new Jenvings Supra power cables on ebay with rave professional reviews for $75?
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