Any Young Audiophiles Out There?


I am 20 years old and I do have my concerns about the future of this hobby. I do not see or hear about many people that are into this under the age of 30. I understand that this could be for financial reasons, but when factoring in this site, fairly nice setups (that perform miles above what you get at bestbuy) can be obtained for under 2000 dollars. A lot of my close friends love coming over and listening, and they do appreciate the quality, but at the same time they are more than happy with their Ipod and stock Apple headphones that come with it. They seem to be more impressed with a 2000 dollar Plasma than a 10,000 dollar stereo system...So if anyone is out their, this post is for us!
-Darren
macd
well, i'm 31 now, but i've been into the hobby for several years. i was probably in my mid to late 20s before i got into it.
For a young "audiophile", an Ipod or mp3 player with decent earphones is the most practical and affordable first system.

I loved music and audio as a kid in a blue collar US household but did not have my first "good" system until I was 18 or so.

So in a sense there are more young potential audiophiles running around out there today at a younger age with halfway decent sound, so in a sense kids today may in fact be ahead of the curve compared to past generations in terms of # kids equipped with decent sounding music at younger ages.

Anything is possible from there.

All peoples both young and old enjoy music though....that will never change.

So maybe there is hope FWIM.....
I don't know if I fit the young category anymore at 31 yrs old. I have been into audio and music since I was a teenager and always had decent systems from that point on.

I only got hooked on the really expensive and excellent sounding equipment about 8 years ago in my very early twenties.

I have lots of audiophile buddies but most are quite a few years older than I am. Most of my friends that are the same age as me have multiple young children and are not worried about music or high fidelity systems.

I do have a few buddies my age that are really involved. We are out there just not in huge numbers.

Introduce your friends to it. Some people can appreciate the finer things in life. Some think everything sounds the same.

I have a buddy who owns 20 automobiles. Cars are his hobby and passion. I expect my vehicle to get me where I need to go in a safe and reliable way. I have no interest in owning many different vehicles and working on them all the time. I can however appreciate a beautiful automobile such as a 1970 Dodge Challenger convertible. He probably expects his stereo to work when he turns it on and be reliable. Beyond that he doesn't spend time on it or worrying about it.

He thinks I am nuts for how involved I am in audio and how often I change components and try new cables, cords, tweaks. To each his own.
Hey everyone, don't believe Nicksgem10s for a minute. He's actually 54 but just ACTS like he in his 30s. His system is an old Sony Walkman (yes, the cassette type) with stock headphones and he listens to the Cowsils, the Partridge Family and old Donny Osmond songs (with an occasional diversions like "Feelings" by Morris Albert or Debbie Boone's Greatest Hit)

I am his MUCH younger friend with what he thinks is a high end system (I have an iPod with a Hornet).

Don't feel too bad for Nick though - his twenty something wife buys him all of his gear as she is the real audiophile of the family - I think she just designed a really high-end USB DAC and Nick thought it was a toaster.