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

This is a really interesting discussion.  I'm 76 now, and rebuilding my system.  During a recent move I abandoned quite an inventory of equipment, a lot of which was self-constructed and/or purchased after years of upgrades and development.  I had  moved to a smaller place along with all this stuff, said to hell with it, and constructed a mini-system that was surprisingly good and, I thought, perfectly  adequate.  So then came the move and the necessary (!) downsizing.  I moved to the next place and found myself staring at something I had never had:  the perfect listening space.  My mini system was still good, but the possibilities......

Fact is, this is a connoisseurs game, like any other.  It is also fun.  There will always be such people but here's the generational difference:  electronics technology, along with everything else, has changed radically, opening up new possibilities for the great unwashed.  No one in the sixties or seventies could get musical performance out of their low-to-midlevel gear that approached was is now available digitally, or via streaming, into an internet-coupled speaker or a set of earbuds.  Equi[pment on this level in times past was awful.  Remember what it was like the first time you entered a hifi store and heard what was in there?  Also, in those days music was far more diverse and of, frankly, higher quality overall.  Now the entry-level gear is so much better but the source material is, by and large, pedestrian (I would prefer a different term).  It often really doesn't matter what you're listening with. Most people are not connoisseurs and they shouldn't be.  So the market for superior audio quality has declined in the face of enhanced reproduction coupled to degraded material.  Declined, but not gone away.  A couple decades ago, who would have thought that young people would start clamoring for vinyl playback and vacuum tubes?  Saying things like "it just sounds better!".  So I'm an old guy who just can't give it up.  I moved 60 boxes of vinyl down here!

So the market for superior audio quality has declined in the face of enhanced reproduction coupled to degraded material. Declined, but not gone away. A couple decades ago, who would have thought that young people would start clamoring for vinyl playback and vacuum tubes? Saying things like "it just sounds better!". So I’m an old guy who just can’t give it up. I moved 60 boxes of vinyl down here!

So, you’re sitting around in 2024 with noisy old vinyl, tubes and under some illusion that younger folks don’t have anything or heard anything better than what you’ve got?

Quite funny because they can buy an official studio master 24bit hires for 8 bucks these days.

A pair of cheap apple spatial pods sounds better than any old old hyped up dinosaur rig i can remember. They are sure to be disappointed when they actually hear the quality of the dinosaur rigs/dinosaur media/the grand illusion/letdown.

I suppose there are a few young hipsters without a turntable collecting some vinyl...doesn’t sound like any kind of ’comeback’ to me.

I think the reason live music is such a 'thing' now is that the very young don't know how good music can sound on a decent system, which does not mean a really expensive system. Just, you know, what we boomers had in our youth, a receiver, a source (then a turntable, now a streamer), and a couple of decent speakers. Used to cost under $500 back then, probably could do it for way less than that amount adjusted for inflation now. Instead they stream from their phone to a crappy $79 BT speaker.

But since they are so used to earbuds and cheap headphones, there does seem to be some interest in higher spec headphones and 2.1 systems like that.   

stuartk A very astute observation. Is it live or is it Memorex? Before long, partaking of music could be like the sex in the Stallone movie 'Demolition Man!

simao No offense meant and certainly none taken. We're just having what has turned out to be an interesting discussion concerning aging audiophiles, with a 'well done' nod to tubelvr11.

I ask myself the same question about audiences in classical orchestral concerts I attend. Average age of the audience is very high. In the future the hall will be half empty unless they start playing only tunes from video games and movies.