When Was The Audio Golden Age?

I think OP is right. Since the last decade there was an offer in quality and improvement at such low price which was never seen before.

But there is not much acoustics basic consciousness in most audiophiles yet,all attention is focused on the gear pieces not on what we do not see ... We must wait audiophile acoustic A.I products yet to come....( Dr. Choueiri is the first such offer but not yet A.I. driven )

😊

Myself i did not wait...And i used modest tools and basic concrete means for minimally acceptable acoustics results ..

Then i had the two feet and the head also in "the golden era" for acoustically educated audiophiles: right now...

Golden Age can be given at any point of time and it all depends on how and when you label it

Was it when copper was cheap enough to make faucets and tea kettles? 

Seems to me a true "Golden Age" of audio doesn't exist. The Golden Age is the future, not the past.

We may be nostalgic about a certain look or style, but with audio it all comes down to sound. The only possible exceptions might be true analog record production and music in the 1960's and 1970's.

Anybody know that the concept of "golden era" is relative...😊

But here we spoke about the last 100 years in audio playback reproduction. Not about the dinosaurus takes on the world  before comets strike them ...

And sorry but it is not only about sound  quality  which rely now as much  on acoustics than on the gear but about the offerings of combined S.Q. with low price...

The audiophile era begun few years ago in my opinion being 73 years old soon  ...😋

Will it go on ?

Probably the technological and psychoacoustics improvement allied to industrial manufacturing always lowerede cost price (robotisation) will not stop.

To me, the "golden age" of hi-fi began after WWII and especially with the advent of the LP. Marantz tube gear, big Bozaks, KLH 9s. Raw drivers, DIY, and pretty hands on. (Of course, there is the pre-war WE and Klangfilm equipment, originally designed for theater). 

I got into this "hobby" in around 1970, coinciding with the dawn of the first generation of "high end" (a term I think Harry Pearson claimed to coin). 

As to what is the "greatest" era for gear, I think that depends on what you are after.