High End is Dead?

Amen to all that craigl59 !
Few days ago I went to a Symphony Concert with a good friend of mine who is a Psych Prof at the U of MN . And a very prominent one at that .
Looking at all the white heads he threw me a line I had not heard .

"As the country gets dumber and dumber , fewer and fewer people read
books . People who don’t read books in the digital age have too short an attention span to listen to classical music ."
I said, and have bad taste as well !

Looking at this post, which has a lot of smarts from a lot of smart people leads me to say out loud what I have said under my breath for a long time .
People who don't go to live concerts of acoustic music on a REGULAR   basis , no amps allowed , have no reference in reality and  therefore have no idea what music really is . It's not a hobby for us , its a consuming passion .
In terms of streaming etc , music has become no different than any other commodity in that more and more is controlled by fewer and fewer . More than half of the phrases an average American utters were written by a marketer !

+2 craigl59
+1 schubert
The better my system has become the more I want to listen to classical music on it. I always have enjoyed classical music, but it seems the hardest to "recreate" electronically.
Live music is the gold standard; un-amplified live music is the platinum standard. My kids learned to play acoustical music on a high quality instrument. Now they all seem to have a keen sense for and appreciation of dynamics, timbre, and the emotional investment a musician needs to make an acoustical instrument convey meaning beyond words. 

craigl59 - Musical style also has an impact on high-end audio purchase. Classical music requires significantly higher audio quality to sound pleasurable than do most popular styles....

+1

2 simple comments. The younger generation are into pocket hifi (cell phone) and head phones. It's the instant gratification, download it, listen for a week than onto the next pop star song. Not about the quality. Although there is a nice little push from old soul younger generation for good vintage gear. 

Baby boomers are still buying good gear. They have the $ and the memories of those pounding Kabuki speakers but now they want the real thing so open up the wallet. 

One more. If you told  Audio Note high end audio is dead I don't think they would beleive you. Just sayin. 

High-end system is not dead but its market share is much smaller.

How many people can afford a $50K+ system unless they are filthy rich?

Most of us only have a certain amount of disposable income.  A good audio system is only a dream.

I put together a system when I was in high school, Pioneer integrated amp, Dual 505-3 turntable, Nad turner, Nakamichi cassett deck, Denon CD player, and a pair of PSB book shelf speakers.  I had this system for the past 50 years (and I am still using it as my spare system) and it was only 2 years ago that I decided to buy myself a retirement present (audio system) because I do not have the same responsibilities as 50 years ago.