I am 40+ and I own and use Grados, Shures, Sennheisers and Etymotics with both Grado and Headroom external headphone amplifiers.
Most kids I see these days are listening to ear buds, and usually with hip hop or the Jonas Brothers, as noted above which may not encourage the use of high fidelity equipment.
The reason I know this is because I can hear their choice of "music" and the distortion of their earbuds very clearly whenever I take the New York subway, even from a few feet away and over and above the noise of the train.
To be clear, I am talking about the E train to Fifth Avenue in midtown, so the music could be different on the outskirts of town.
But I maintain that the decline of civilization is at least partially to blame.
Most kids I see these days are listening to ear buds, and usually with hip hop or the Jonas Brothers, as noted above which may not encourage the use of high fidelity equipment.
The reason I know this is because I can hear their choice of "music" and the distortion of their earbuds very clearly whenever I take the New York subway, even from a few feet away and over and above the noise of the train.
To be clear, I am talking about the E train to Fifth Avenue in midtown, so the music could be different on the outskirts of town.
But I maintain that the decline of civilization is at least partially to blame.