I think all of the last several posts are on target, namely that people have different tastes and passions. I guess this gets back to the question of why fewer are involved in high end audio reproduction. I expect several things are going on. One we are now a much older average age population now. Two, there are many other passions available now, such as video, gaming, digital picture and video taking, and involvement in social media.
I have two stories. Long ago I had a famous pianist friend and while at his house, I asked what his stereo system was like. He showed me a Webcor portable record player in his office. Seeing my amazement, he said he only listened for the performer's interpretation, not the music, which was all in his head.
Second story, my 16 year old grandson was listening to Pinky Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on his Ipod. I heard it and asked him to come to my listening room where I played the record. He said it did not even sound like the same recording and was wowed. He asked if I had a drum record (he plays drums in a jazz group), I played one. And he exclaimed, that this was closer to what he heard when he played, but still wasn't there. After a while he left with his ear buds back in and playing music.
Different strokes for different folks. But I should say that he is now interested in having better speakers and audio in his room.
