Are Audiophiles dying out?

Hi all.

An interesting topic came to me via a Facebook post which suggested that Audiophiles are dying out, and that we are in the last generation of them.

I find this, in a way a blanketed and blinkered observation. But, in another way, with the ongoing change in the habits of listening to audio, it could hold an iota of truth.

For me, it's about the education of music and understanding of the history of music. For example, my son who is 15, came home one day from school and told me that he tried to speak to his music teacher about his favourite artists, which are The Beatles, The Stones, The Stone Roses, James, Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Jimi Hendrix, and many more.

Apparently, the teacher had no idea about ANY of those artists and was quite rude with him, then had a go at his blazer badges of which were a mixture of the above artists. Grr.

I found this quite shocking.

He has 2 friends who know about and like the same artists. Weirdly, their parents are of my age of which are in their 50s.

The music tastes that the majority of the school is pretty dire in comparison. But also, they have no idea what a Hi-Fi system is!?

So, is this a common thing, are kids being shovelled modern music through Spotify and not seeing, understanding, or feeling the plethora of the importance and magnitude to which has past?

And, if they did have a more healthy knowledge of music and music history, would they want to know how to get the best of the sound?

Of course, there are kids who know more than most and are eager to hear it at its best. But, with so much now which is purely digital, are the avenues of analogue and the care of listening becoming anarchical?

Thoughts?

Sent from my moto g13 using Tapatalk

I got into music in the early 1980s at which point (if we take the start of 'rock music' as an arbitrary 1967) there was about 15 years of music to catch up on.

Now it's 50 years of music a young teenager has to catch up on. It's not surprising that there's a lot of great artists they (or even people in their 20s and 30s like, presumably, the teacher in question) have never heard of let alone heard.

If we go back further and include jazz and classical - I mean jazz alone you could spend several lifetimes catching up.

In theory digital access and streaming means it's a lot easier to catch up for them than it was for us. When I was about 14 (1982) this youth came into class and was going on about someone called 'Jimi Hendrix' - he'd watched a VHS of his Montrose concert. Nowadays we could just go home and stream it to hear, even see, who he was on about. Back then you'd need to find it and buy it.

No, I don't think we'll be the last generation. Hi-fi mags were saying that 40 years ago, the people writing those editorials are probably mostly all dead. And yet here we are and not a week goes by without some new turntable or CD player appearing on the market, let alone equipment for streaming. And new speaker companies seem to appear almost every day.

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Originally Posted by Macca

I got into music in the early 1980s at which point (if we take the start of 'rock music' as an arbitrary 1967) there was about 15 years of music to catch up on.

Now it's 50 years of music a young teenager has to catch up on. It's not surprising that there's a lot of great artists they (or even people in their 20s and 30s like, presumably, the teacher in question) have never heard of let alone heard.

If we go back further and include jazz and classical - I mean jazz alone you could spend several lifetimes catching up.

In theory digital access and streaming means it's a lot easier to catch up for them than it was for us. When I was about 14 (1982) this youth came into class and was going on about someone called 'Jimi Hendrix' - he'd watched a VHS of his Montrose concert. Nowadays we could just go home and stream it to hear, even see, who he was on about. Back then you'd need to find it and buy it.

No, I don't think we'll be the last generation. Hi-fi mags were saying that 40 years ago, the people writing those editorials are probably mostly all dead. And yet here we are and not a week goes by without some new turntable or CD player appearing on the market, let alone equipment for streaming. And new speaker companies seem to appear almost every day.

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I agree. No one would be making all this new kit if there wasn't a market. Although the young 'uns will differ from us 'oldies' in that they have so much more going on with streaming, computer games and social media, from when they leave home, raise a family, get a proper income, home comforts will become more of a thing, including a big ass TV, home cinema, and yes, hifi too. Then when the kids have flown the nest and mortgage paid off, hifi may then become an option for bigger spends.

Of course I'm generalising, this may not be the path for everyone, but enough to keep the manufacturers in business.

Having said that, I don't know what will happen to my kit and records, my two daughters express bog all interest :(

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

I agree. No one would be making all this new kit if there wasn't a market. Although the young 'uns will differ from us 'oldies' in that they have so much more going on with streaming, computer games and social media,(

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Computer games were massive in the 1980s though, not a new thing. I suppose social media has replaced hanging around outside the Spa on your BMXs, at least to some extent. Although now, with smartphones, you could do both at the same time.

When I went to the interview for my last job it was two young blokes (early 30s) who interviewed me. Towards the end they asked 'Have you any hobbies or interests?' so I said 'Music and Hi-fi.'

They didn't know what hi-fi was, I had to explain.

Once I started working with them I discovered that both were into music and one was heavily into films so not sure why they'd never heard of hi-fi. Maybe the industry could do with advertising a bit more generally? I mean, people aren't going to buy something they don't even know exists.

I started a similar thread mid February this year, based on a post on a headphone users' website. Replies from Martin and Steve were similar to what they have expressed here.

It all came down to the definition of an 'audiophile', and that of a 'music lover'.

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Originally Posted by Macca

I suppose social media has replaced hanging around outside the Spa on your BMXs, at least to some extent.

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Scouse kids eh, hoping for a free sauna :)

Smaller in number but not dying out - I suppose it's how you interpret dying out? I don't think it will ever die out, humanity will probably be gone before the last audiophile :)

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Originally Posted by Tim

Smaller in number but not dying out - I suppose it's how you interpret dying out? I don't think it will ever die out, humanity will probably be gone before the last audiophile :)

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That does assume the existence of aliens though. And that they have an audiophile subculture. I'm not sure which is the more unlikely.

Although maybe it's not a subculture but their main purpose. I wonder what a being that was the perfect audiophile would look like. Big ears probably. Maybe little squinty eyes although it would still have to have good eyesight to read the side of a record sleeve in a dark room.

Record sleeves!? :eek: If they are listening to analogue sources, unless they have found a way of reducing the several percent of second order distortion, then I wouldn't consider them to be "perfect audiophiles". :rolleyes:

They must have turntables otherwise how are they going to play that gold record we sent them?

My almost 18 year old daughter went shopping in Norwich today and bought 3 CDs, but I doubt she will ever play them. She has a small vinyl collection too, most of which are unplayed. She values the ownership and supporting the artist, but is quite content to mainly listen to Spotify on her phone via Bluetooth headphones.

As I’ve mentioned before, she has a very broad music taste including a lot of oldies, and that’s not all to do with my influence, although that is certainly part of it. I put together a “proper” system for her in her room but she hardly used it after the initial interest so it all went back in the garage as she valued the space more than the sound quality - and to be fair, if you like listening via headphones, the sound quality with a half decent pair is pretty exceptional these days. Apparently headphones with wires are all the rage now!

I believe as long as we are here, we will always need and crave art, be that literature, art itself, music or any other form of creativity. It may diminish, but I don't personally think it will ever die.

What is an audiophile anyway?

Hopefully they'd be intelligent enough to know that the tracking force of their cartridge could be radically different here to their home planet.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Hopefully they'd be intelligent enough to know that the tracking force of their cartridge could be radically different here to their home planet.

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Well we know from Star Trek that gravity is exactly the same on all habitable worlds. And they all speak American English.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Hopefully they'd be intelligent enough to know that the tracking force of their cartridge could be radically different here to their home planet.

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The Voyager gold disc was accompanied with a pickup cartridge and instructions on how to play it. The record itself is played just like a record here, but at a speed of 16 2/3 rpm, and there is a reference to a hydrogen transition resonance frequency, so the aliens will know to spin the disc at exactly 3.6 seconds per revolution.

There was video information on the disc as well.

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Originally Posted by Macca

Well we know from Star Trek that gravity is exactly the same on all habitable worlds. And they all speak American English.

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I know that from watching Trump and his cronies on telly. I bet when the cameras aren't rolling they revert to Klingon.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

I know that from watching Trump and his cronies on telly. I bet when the cameras aren't rolling they revert to Klingon.

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Trump makes a deal with the aliens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6QcGPwY-M

Surely one can tell from the prices of vintage or second hand equipment. Quite a few of the students I move have stereos, but only basic ones.

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Originally Posted by Macca

They must have turntables otherwise how are they going to play that gold record we sent them?

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That was a pretty stupid move IMHO. They'd take one look at it and think "they're not worth bothering with" and continue on their intergalactic journey seeking out intelligent life. If we'd sent a CD it would have been very different, they'd probably be sharing their warp technology or cold fusion reactors with us by now.

As it was a first pressing they might well choose to leave it unplayed.
Is it available on Spotify ?