Stereophile Article - Holt telling it like it is.

I think, Holt is right. But it is no secret, everyone knows that who is interested in music (not Show). Of course, there are a few manufacturers, who really try to push the curtain, but let's be honest, the most gear out there is crap.
I see - or hear - it all the time when I go to Shows etc. Good looking, nicely made stuff which is normally over hyped and at the end of day it is more or less wasted time to listen to it.
Money makes the world go round and the customer "has to" spend his bucks, no one is interested in "real sound" or "natural presentation". I agree, this is a endless discussion, but I listened to so much gear, which isn't able to bring out all details and they are endless hyped from their distributors or dealers.
And when a customer writes about that, he is a bad guy, or his speakers suck, or he is deaf, or his System is bad or the cartridge does not match with "his" tonearm .....
Depressing.

I think one of the things that makes a discussion of the goal of high end audio tricky is the models we use for the result.

IMO, the room is part of the result. My model is that the stereo can 'graft' the wall of your room onto a musical event in progress. This model allows for the technology striving for the 'absolute' while at the same time accounting for the listening environment.

I think the industry is doing great progress in reproduction- we have equipment now that is far more neutral that what was possible ten years ago.

Gordon Holt is saying that the audio hobby became the audio industry in the 1980s. The emphasis was moved from audio performance to sales performance. The components became products. The days when we cared more about sound than appearances are forgotten by most of us.
Our entire society has become commodified. Movie reviews, if there are any, are buried in the entertainment section but the movie grosses are front page.
So, as the audio industry matures, it becomes more mainstream. And, as it becomes more mainstream, it caters ever more to the median demographic. You guys have complained about music offerings declining in quality because of too little demand for quality recordings. This trend will continue to worsen. And you will eventually notice that it is happening to your hardware also.
The American corporation behaves like Pacman, gobbling up everything in its path. The only reason we haven't been gobbled yet is our meager dollar value. But just watch .......... Apple is coming. Computer audio is the future.

I am inclined to agree with the opinion that most modern recordings suck.Why do you suppose so many have gone the vintage route? Surely the opposite of what Holt is stating.
The vintage gear sugar coats the bad overly compressed and thin digital recordings we have today.The best of the new stuff only reveals all the warts.
The companies who may be guilty of trying to make silk out of a pigs ear of modern recording can not really be faulted. They are trying to make this dredge palatable.
I would rather listen to good old recordings on new gear than bad new recordings on old gear.
Two wrongs don't make a right.

The more I read the responses the more wide I see the gap in this hobby between two camps.
In one camp we have the "enthusiasts", who read the mags, check out the gear and tweaks and buy if it meets their own expectations, money is not always the deciding factor.
Then there are the "musiclovers" who scoff at the prices of todays gear, don't believe in tweaks and feel vintage gear is all you need to spend your money on.
At one time there wasn't so much polarization, even I could afford a top of the line CJ system ,Premier Two and MV75A-1 amp with an Oracle table and Acoustat 3, Janus sub system.Not so today.I can't even afford some of the entry level CJ stuff, so I can see where the vintage people's heads are at.They can achieve apiece of the dream. But that was the dream of 1985.There are a lot more good sounding components at entry level price points than there was in 1985.Back then if you wanted good sound you had to pay for it, and the only difference between then and now is that more people could afford the top shelf gear.
Sour grapes and not having the means to buy the "best"is at the core of the anti- Hi End movement.
Holt I fear has lost his hearing if he feels the trend today is to a lush sound.What he is not hearing is the distortions of those flawed systems of the past.