Why Don't More People Love Audio?

Virtual reality rules! Shades of William Gibson and Neuromancer...

I would guess that there are a lot of people who have the money for the best in audio but they do not want to put forth the effort to set-up and maintain a rocking system.

I think all people love audio. It's just that we all have different levels of enjoyment, expectations and priorities in our lives. Other wise even Ipods wouldn't be selling.

I believe the start of the downfall is 2 fold. When I was in high school, it seemed like every other kid could list their parents home components--right down to the stylus. Then, the walkman came out, and for the first time, convenience superceded fidelity. That was the start. As time went on, home cinema came into the picture which was the saving grace for many speaker comanies. One 5 ch reciever would be sold, and now the speaker companies sold 5 speakers and a sub instead of 2 speakers. The industry started to eat its own young with $199 home theater in a box--and that was the major downfall-For the everyday guy things were made too easy and too cheap.

Music has also changed. My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps got nominated for a grammy (WTF???) and then there is rap--enough said. I believe there are less people who care cause music was made too covenient, and we have a whole generation of people who dont know what musical instruments sound like, so why would they care what a stereo with 2 speakers sounds like.....I will go on record as suggesting there may be hope, as it seems to be getting trndy to have a turn table again and hopefully it may ignite the passion for some..........

As a near decade long thread I believe we can elevate this to the level of Frankenthread, it has taken on a life of it's own.

More people DO LOVE AUDIO and now more than ever before are falling into our beloved hobby, poor bastards. How did it happen? Because they downloaded every music file in sight and when reviewing their ill gained booty they realized that each music file had a certain individual sonic quality. Some good some bad some extraordinarily good. This led them towards the first step, they upgraded their ear buds. And before anyone dismisses ear buds as a viable step towards audiophileism I would admonish them to audition a set of $500 and up ear buds. I own a couple of sets and my best set of SUREs are damn near as good as my GRADO SR325s.

Now we have to all agree here that the path that leads an individual into this sickness we all share differs for everyone. It only takes a small step to fall off the cliff and more people are taking that small step than ever before. Headphones have ALWAYS been the poor man's way into High End (pun intended). A great source fed into a quality headphone amp can be a step towards a life on this merry go round we all ride.

And while we are at it don't discount the effect of kids downloading and listening to a HUGE variety of music. It's going to make a difference. Will it translate into people developing a greater understanding of higher quality audio components? Who knows? But when there is interest there usually is movement. It might just be that the movement is in the direction of computers streaming FLAC files through quality DACs into headphone amps and then into $2000+ headphones or ear buds. I can't say which direction this hobby will turn but it WILL TURN and probably in a direction that will surprise us all.

And yes I'll still be clinging to my tube gear and my vinyl, watching, drooling, and planning that next perfect purchase that will finally bring me true sonic nirvana.....