Is the idea of audiophile listening a dying concept as boomers die off?

Well... If you take a look at who’s attending the Audio Shows, from what I’ve seen it appears to be more folks over 50 than under. I retired in 2023 and during my work life, my career offered me enough discretionary income to afford some really nice gear. I went through an evolution like many of us as we traipsed down the halls of equipment upgrades for promises of sonic improvement. Now that I’m retired, I don’t have that luxury of discretionary income, however I’ve managed to have a good system that I can thoroughly enjoy for my listening. Younger folks who are budding audiophiles as many have said just don’t have the time and $$$ to make high value equipment purchases, nor enjoy them due to lack of time.

In the 80’s and early 90’s, you could swing a dead cat and hit an audio store in most towns, and now they’re but a memory in many cases. I visited one this week and enjoyed it, however it was a far cry from those stores of yesteryear. More mid-fi than hi-fi. Yet the major equipment manufacturers are going gangbusters with new designs, especially in the digital realm. And price/performance in the digital realm has actually come down putting quality digital reproduction in the hands of more people. My daughter (36 Y/O), a budding audiophile has gotten some of my hand-me-down equipment and nearly all of my vinyl since I’ve gone strictly digital. But like many other young folks, doesn’t have a lot of time for serious listening. But I do think though that while the days of Boomer audiophiles may be numbered, many others are coming that will carry the torch and keep this industry moving and thriving.

Reading through this very interesting post, the theme seems to be that audiophiles are not a dying breed. The dynamics of listening and the equipment used to facilitate it have changed dramatically from our (boomers) days. I recently read an article concerning the trend that the current generation of workers seldom take vacations, and apparently don't even use their vacation time to just get away from work. During my working years, I knew quite a few people who hardly ever vacationed, but always used their annual allotted days off and just chilled out at home. Apparently, the kids today just don't have that kind of free, 'do nothing' time because of all their social responsibilities. With a growing selection of exceptional wireless ear buds and speakers, and smart phones with excellent processors, they can take their audiophile systems with them. They probably look at our home based systems and just consider them a monumental waste of time and money! One of my guilty pleasures is using my Sony NW-A105 Hi Res Walkman and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds while I putter around the house. If they are happy with their version of audiophilia, who are we to pass judgement on it? Still, it is sad to see our version pass. My enjoyment of the hobby has always been just as much about the reproduction of the music I love as it has been about the visual feast of the gear used to do it. 

Audiophile listening isn't dying.  The music worth listening to is old, just like the audiophiles who listen to it. We are a dying breed of connoisseurs, soon to be extinct.

People have mentioned the lack of attention span and the inability of youth of today to actually sit and listen to music for the sake of listening.  But I also wonder about whether the music contributes to that.  I grew up in the late 60's and 70's, which I consider to be the "golden age" of rock.  Classic rock and jazz are the genres that I listen to.  I can listen to the Doors, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Tull, Yes, etc. forever.  In 20 years, is anyone going to want to listen to hip-hop, rap, Taylor Swift, Steve Aoki, etc.?  Doubt it. Current music just doesn't have the staying power of the classics and so why listen to it on a $50K+ system.  For me, I love listening to classic rock and jazz that sounds like "you are there."  I always have appreciated great stereo since my college days in the '70's, and that has been a passion since then.  The realism of a fine system in the 70's hooked me in about 1975.   But in those days, we didn't have 100+ TV channels, YouTube, personal computers, smartphones and all of the other distractions.  Then, it was music, hanging out, smoking pot, and going to movies.  For people growing up now, there are so many distractions.  The more distractions, the less important the "hobby" of listening to music for the sake of music, as compared to background.  My step-son appreciates listening to my stereo but is never going to buy similar equipment.  I suspect that he won't appreciate it even when I leave it to him.  Bottom line, I hope that there will be a new generation that appreciates fine audio equipment, but I sadly suspect that we are a dying breed.

@moto_man  "In 20 years, is anyone going to want to listen to hip-hop, rap, Taylor Swift, Steve Aoki, etc.?"

A. Conflating individual artists with complete genres is a fallacy. Hip hop and rap have been around for 40 years now, give or take, and millions are still listening to hip hop from the 80's and 90's. Swift's audience is much more homogenous, but I suspect they'll be listening to her in 20 years. 

B. You're right insofar as there are way more avenues for personal entertainment/distractions now than simply audio and three channels on TV. Gen Alpha is more visual and meme-based than any generation in history and for them music consumption is much more ephemeral and hyper - as is consumption of almost any media. 

C. "But in those days, we didn't have 100+ TV channels, YouTube, personal computers, smartphones and all of the other distractions.  Then, it was music, hanging out, smoking pot, and going to movies."

• I would argue that avenues for creativity are way more varied and accessible now than they were "in those days". Having said that, I can't vouchsafe that Gen Alpha and Gen Z actually make use of them as much as they could. 

Here's my anecdotal take on the topic. I'm 52 and amongst my friends, family and coworkers I can count maybe, off the top of my head, 6 or 7 of them who have dedicated hi-fi setups. And when I say hi-fi, I'm talking about a receiver, speakers, and a turn-table - very mid-fi setups. Of those 7, only one has a dedicated streamer, CD player, pre-amp and amp combo, and a 2-channel system. That would be me. The majority listen to music via streaming services using Bluetooth speakers or earbuds. I think of the 6 people I know with dedicated listening set-ups, there are a few of those set up as home theater/gaming systems where music is secondary. 

So while there may be more hi-fi components being sold than ever and at the higher-end as well, that's not because the cohort of hi-fi consumers is necessarily growing exponentially in the under-50 crowd, but because the aging Gen-Xers finally have discretionary cash lying around to invest in systems and the 60+ crowd are replacing or upgrading. Sure, you'll have the 1%ers of the wealthy buying high end setups because they can and want to impress but that is still a small market share of total units sold. We also have a bigger global population as well. 

I'm sure over time, the Millenials, Gen-Z crowd will grow into wanting better-sounding systems, but many don't know what they're missing out on and will stick with whole-house Sonos or Google speaker systems that "do just fine" in playing their daily Spotify lists.

A small segment of headphonauts will stick with such setups but upgrade over time and maybe venture into 2-channel setups. But having discretionary funds to spend on those things is a big ask for people who are not dedicated & discriminating music listeners. I have 3 young kids so the idea that I'll be dropping huge wads of cash on components is laughable. I can justify spending $3-5K on speakers but anything beyond that is not a priority for me. I'm happy with a mid-fi hi-fi system. 

I know a few younger co-workers who are into listening to vinyl but they enjoy the sound and are happy with a $400 setup and honestly, the technological improvements happening over time make the entry-point into a decent hi-fi system easy to achieve without breaking the bank. I think the future of hi-fi will be the continued growth of mid-priced hi-fi. You'll still have the guys buying the flagship Gryphon and Wilson Audio and those manufacturers will focus on that niche. But companies like Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Bluesound, WIIM will be what a growing number of people will have as their first hi-fi setup.