Are we, as a breed of 'Audiophiles' dying out?

[Pete The Cat]

The article focuses on a squeezed middle segment.

It uses anecdotal examples of specific brands to make its point rather than citing overall market data such as units sold, although perhaps such data isn't readily available. That said, I'm inclined to agree with it using anecdotal examples of my own.

The sheer range of competing leisure interests nowadays must surely have eaten into the share of household wallet available for enthusiast audio compared with, say, 1980. Some folks are holidaying all over the world and often more than once a year. Most homes seem to have multiple phone and entertainment subscriptions.

Not only is there a range of competing interests but we see above inflation increases in many of these: a 'gig' ticket can cost you £hundreds; football fandom involves membership, replica kit etc and not just tickets; cars - in 1980 the Ford Cortina range started at £3,500, today's Ford Kuga starts at £30k. I don't see attendance levels at hi-fi shows as persuasive of sales volumes - like motor shows, folks love to drool over a Bugatti but they drive home in a Ford.

Home furnishing these days is relatively minimalist. Even blokes would rather toy with an app that can set the burglar alarm, switch on the immersion heater and control a Sonos 'thing' playing Spotify than fall out with their partner over the positioning of separate boxes and cables.

So I'd take some persuading that the audio enthusiast pool, which traditionally bought what the article sees as the middle segment, is being replenished at the same rate as it's reducing. But reducing need not mean ending, just a market readjustment. Fewer of us just means fewer of us, certainly not the end.

It's great that folks can get 'good enough' sound for less. I've never regarded audiophilia as being defined by how much you spend. Members of sites such as Head-Fi are seriously into sound quality - their reviews of headphones are as prosaic as anything by Jimmy Hughes. It's just that they prefer laptop, DAC and cans to crawling around the floor changing cables.

Something that affects both supply and demand in this debate is product longevity. A lot of the middle segment products are well-made and don't have multiple additional features that can go wrong; they can be serviced if not by the original manufacturer then by a specialist or enthusiast. Unlike a car, which you'll have to let go after the engine has reached X miles, you can live with your current amplifier (make that your current dumping amplifier ) for decades.

An interesting discussion and just my tuppenceworth.