YouTube Indicates What the Future is For Audiophiles - Interesting Demographics.

I'm not sure one can conclude that audiophiles are a dying breed and hi-fi in general is going the way of the dodo based on YouTube metrics of two videos. However, if your premise is based upon the old-school idea of what constitutes an audiophile  (the middle-aged or older, predominately white male, sitting in his home listening room furnished with one chair in front of a stack of separate audio components and tower speakers) then yes. Perhaps that audiophile version ought to go the way of the 8-track player. 

Young people certainly enjoy listening to music and doing so with their friends in social settings but they're most certainly not listening to music the way most audiophiles listen to music.  People in their 20s and early 30s have grown up listening to music on Bluetooth speakers and AirPods. That is the starting point for young audiophiles.  Most of them don't sit and listen to an entire album and most don't have the discretionary income either. If anything, we need less hi-fi and more mid-fi. There will always be the high-end market for those who have the means and time to build a singular system to listen to their 1st pressing copy of Steely Dan's Aja but the vast majority of people want a system that is easy to set up, use, and sounds good. That means an all-in-one solution with some wireless speakers perhaps or a SONOS system. 

I've found that when talking to younger people interested in the hobby, it begins with talking about the music first. Then find out listening preferences (streaming predominately followed by vinyl). Do they listen strictly with headphones/earbuds or do they have a home stereo setup? Is it a laptop streaming to Bluetooth speakers?

I had a young coworker who was into vinyl and I recommended stepping up his headphones to wired headphones/monitors and a decent desktop headphone amp. From there he's gone on to slowly upgrading his speakers and turntable. But again, in tiny affordable increments.

I don't think we have to lament the loss of the ossified version of the audiophile, instead we should celebrate that people listen to music and do so in whatever way they choose. The hi-fi industry is responding accordingly with streaming-enabled powered speakers that completely skip the need for an audio rack. And perhaps, over time these people will go deeper down the rabbit hole that is hi-fi and become avid hobbists as their leisure time and pocket books allow.

I think it’s rather fitting that us older generation is leading the way on YouTube. It’s also fitting that the music dies with us since we were exposed to the greatest music ever recorded from the 60’s to the 80’s. Don’t you think? The younger generation listens to all of the crap from today and think it’s an actual hit. Not me. I still listen to everything from the 60’s to the 80’s because that was real music and we were very privileged to have grown up with it!

I’m sure your father felt the same way about your "great music from the 60s and 80s" as just a bunch of poprockracket that wasn’t real music like the music he loved from the 40s and 50s.

They recently did a study that most people’s long-term listening habits regarding what bands and types of music they prefer is from when that person was in their 20s to mid-30s. After 33, they don’t venture beyond that comfort zone to look for new music which explains why my wife and her sisters are stuck on 90s country and hip-hop.

I had the privilege of having parents who owned a record store in the late 70s through the mid-80s. I spent every day after school and summer afternoons in that store listening to all sorts of music. Classical, Jazz, Delta Blues, R&B, Rock, Disco, Punk and New Wave. That set the stage for listening to all sorts of types of music. That curiosity sticks with me.

I listen to new music all the time and I’m 52. Honestly, there are some great artists today that make better music than a lot of the stuff that came out in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I’m not hampered by nostalgia when I say a lot songs in the 60s, 70s, and 80s are lyrically terrible and musically questionable. That includes the Beatles and Stones. The Who has some crap songs, Steely Dan has crap songs. Bands like Devo, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, etc. have bad songs.

I go back and listen to bands I thought were great when I was younger and find much of it to not be great. I can cherry-pick certain songs or albums that stand out but I would never say an artist’s entire catalog is spotless. I also do some digital crate digging to find old new-to-me music to enjoy as much as I enjoy discovering new bands and artists, including listening to the music my kids like when we have dance parties at home. That’s what makes listening to music an enjoyable and serious hobby for me. My hi-fi system is a means to that end as I’m sure it is for many on this forum. When I pass on to the great concert hall in sky, I won’t care if my wife and kids sell my hi-fi system and music collection. I just want the legacy of my hobby to be that my kids enjoy listening to music and it becomes a lifetime hobby for them.

A nicely written article referencing this thread and quoting some of you:

https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/09/audiophiles-gone-soon/

Have any of you been to a classical music concert recently? Probably exact same age groups, although definitely more females,  but not much in the way of young people. We do need some more outreach for classical music too. 

How can young people think about buying an audio system when they can barely afford rent ?