Is the "audiophile" a dying breed?

chargerman426

Just want to add my 2 cents in. I'm 18 and I have been buying and trying to find the best audio equipment since I was 14. I will admit that I'm the only one in my group of people that doesn't take pride in just big bass (all though my systems can have major bass if I want ). But I have tried to get some of my people to like more then just bass... with no luck. However I think I'm one of the lucky few that has a great woman that doesnt think audio is a waste of money and she acctually supports me when I buy new stuff. I hope that by being here on this forum you guys see how much this young guy still loves audio quility.

Dennis Gardner

Less audiophiles= more gear for me.

I can iPod, Squeezebox, & XM with anyone, but I'll take my vinyl in my room, by myself or with a few select friends, thank you.

VR3

Being 19...

I would say being an audiophile is not exactly a dieing breed.

Out of the people my Dad associates (30-50 years old) and the ones I associate with - I would say the percentile is the same as to who is into audio and who is not.

I would say the majority of people my age are more into busting down the walls than accurate reproduction. Alot of my friends are this way. They admit what I have sounds far superior, but to expect 16-20 year olds trying to find their way in life sink serious coin into decent sound equipment is probally not high on their want list.

But I think alot of people just do not have an interest in 2 ch audio. I think multi-channel audio may be the future. People want surround sound. I know several people with surround sound setups, not always good ones - but a setup none the less.

Its a start, but no it is not dieing.

HHStuart

I got introduced to good sound back in college listening to a really good set of head phones. It took me many years to be able to have a decent system but I've had one every since. I think if you expose people to a good system, a certain percentage of them can appreciate the difference and will pursue it when they can. On the other hand, a lot of young listeners are damaging their hearing (here in Boston one got hit by a subway car even though it was honking it's horn - he was listening to earphones). This may prevent them from appreciating good sound. I do see a smaller number of Hi-Fi stores and Tweeter went belly up. I took advantage of that to get Polk speakers - LSi 15's, LSiC, and LSi 7's. I won't be able to hook up the LSi 7's until I finish making some cherry DVD cabinets and a cherry cabinet to put an HD TV on. Sad to see Tweeter go. Where will I go now?
P.S. This is my first post to the Polk forum.

Motzart

Ok time for a older **** to chime in!

Ok I'm 44 and I have a VAST like of Music.
New Age....Classical.....Jazz....Progressive Jazz...Techno...Classic Rock.

HATE Rap and Country

Few points to my madness.....

First off maybe I'm getting old but a 128bit MP3 sounds just as good to me as a CD Song.

The newer Electronic music I like a lot (Forgot todays term for it now -help me here-)
Lotta beat and Synth......
Atral Projection...Crystal Method.

Then if I wanna semi relax there is Moby.....Hooverphonic....William Orbit....Steve Roach....ect

Super Mellow and Relax I have some of the highest rated CD's from the Penguin Guide to Collecting Classical Music(dunno if it's still around?)

On a "Fetching the old memories" day
Gotta have my Pink Floyd.....Dark Side of the Moon....Animals....Wish You Were Here (IMHO Pink Floyd is the best Classic Rock of all time)

My Boys are 20 and 16 and their friends are getting into some of my old teen classics TODAY!
AC/DC.....Ozzy.....Black Sabbath
In return I like some of their Generation stuff like Papa Roach....Red Hot Chilli Peppers....Stained...quite a few others.

Bottom line and back to the subject.....
Untill I was like 25 I didn't give a rats **** what I had to play my music on and long as it worked.
Around that time is when I became friends with a few work buddies that had recievers.
That's when the bug hit me and heard what my music could really sound like.
Since then I like to have some decent quality speakers and equipment.
Granted I don't make a wad of dinero so I can't afford the real HIGH END stuff I'd really like to have.
But then again I have gotten way away from the Plastic Boombox years also.

There is a time in many but not all youngsters lives where their music taste matures and they want some real equipment to listen to.
Least that's what I have seen in my 40yrs.

The frontal lobe fully develops! LOL

In my case it was about the time I got married....I was 22 and before that I was stoned and Heavy Metal all the way!
Sabbath....Zepplin....Priest....Ozzy....Riot....AC/DC...Ratt....the 1980's thing.
Cheap Kmart Boombox and I was happy....(Ooooo Soundesign remember them?) LOL

Polk addict

Well, I'm 16, and I do use an mp3 player, but I always keep my music at 256 kbps or higher. And I do confide in good systems, but I don't have the money or atleast, I'm not willing to spend the money to upgrade my system...

When I listen to music at home, I always use CD's...

Although, many of the CD's I have are not good quality SOUND, because they were burned off of I-tunes or somebody's library.

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

Being 19...
I would say the majority of people my age are more into busting down the walls than accurate reproduction

I have my woofer tuned exactly how it needs to be. Faded in...

But in my school, I have to say that audiophiles are non-existent.

BeRad

I have tried to practically give away my R50's to everyone I know for the past 8 months. If the audiophile (even to the smallest degree) isn't dead, they all live far far away from me!
Maybe better in the end that I get to keep my introduction to Polk as a future garage setup.

btw: I am no audiophile, just someone who wants to be wowed by a great sounding system. (even if it is an mp3 playing). I am the only one I know who is like this.

LittleCar_w/12s

Well, us audiophiles do have a lot of work to do, but it's not in getting young people to enjoy high quality sound. Our biggest challenge is in keeping the music industry from falling behind in recording quality.
!-- rant
I am astounded sometimes when I hear new CDs and the recording quality is bad. It's like the industry knows that people are just going to take them home and rip them to 128kmp3, so they figure why even bother with quality. They just make sure the music is on there, and print them out. Where is the studio quality we crave? When it comes to older music, or music from older artists, you'd better beleive that they invest in good recording equipment; but as for the newer pop artists and such, they just want to make the buck. I fear that by the time kids are old enough to appreciate their music in hi-fi, there won't be any to listen to.
end rant --!

Ok, I do have a good thing to say about our audio quality in electronics nowadays. Our need for the super-uber-stupendous-best stuff, whether 90% of the population knows what it means or not, has at least funded enough good research to produce high quality DAC's Thank goodness. At least the new audiophile can boast about that, and given the image infatuation problem, it's self-propogating in that respect.

Gosh, I remember as a kid, listening to the crap that came through when I downloaded music and cringing. I vowed then to archive my music uncompressed and about fell over when somone finally made a TB disk we could afford. Sadly so many have gotten used to 128k compression, that it may be a moot point. I was spoiled, though, as my first audio rig was a computer cd-drive hardwired to an old Panasonic turntable Tuner. I miss that green-glowing chrome and wood monster, too.

I do hope that young people get the chance to experience good music before quality dies. That in itself should plant little audiophile seeds; but it may be up to us to showcase it and give them the chance.

BTW, nice to be back after a good three year or so hiatus. Life's been a whilwind, I tell you, but we're finally settling down enough to start having luxuries like extra time again. so.. Hi again.

~Jerry~

cfrizz

A lot of the younger people on here have said what I have always said.

Interest in a good system is a matter of age, time & money. You have to mature into wanting something more than a boombox/mp3 player, and you need to make more than minimum wage in order to start buying decent components.

Some might never want more than that simply because they aren't interested. Those that are will find this and other boards and get their learn on.