??? Are Manufacturers Killing Our Hobby ???

This is akin to asking whether too many musicians and musical genres are harming the hobby of listening to music. As for whether I agree with the opinion that live music isn't about the music but all about the show being put on by the artist, I'll politely disagree on that.

1. I welcome the fact that there is a plethora of choices in the "hi-fi" market that allow people to get into the hobby these days without a huge investment and possibly buyer's remorse. Sure we can denigrate someone for listening to music on a sound-bar but I'm not going to denigrate someone for listening to music on a pair of wireless speakers. If that floats their boat...great. Allowing people to upgrade as they get into the hobby is what it's all about. I recall going on group rides, and there was always one Dr/Lawyer/Dentist in the group that would belittle someone showing up with the "improper" cycling kit or an old steel bike and not take them seriously because said "serious cyclist" was riding a top of the line carbon fiber Pinerallo or Colnago w/ Campy Super Record. 

2. I enjoy listening to music and have various ways to do it with my mid-fi system I've upgraded over the last few years. I do enjoy exposing friends and family to what music can sound like on a decent, not expensive setup compared to their Google Home/Sonos speakers. But many aren't hard-core music listeners to begin with. I have a handful of friends who actively collect records, and their set-ups are modest at best. None have a high-end dedicated streamer or DAC, let alone a CD player.  

3. The decline of hi-fi stores has been happening over decades so it's not a sudden thing, and honestly, I don't have the time or energy to drive across state or out of state to demo gear. What we have now is a "hi-fi" ecosystem that people can get into with nominal effort and work their way up and search the world wide interwebs for manufacturers they've never heard of or wouldn't have normal access to where they live. If anything, I'd say the plethora of choices actually encourages people to really start dedicating time to listening to music as a serious hobby and not audible wallpaper. 

@mitch2 +1

@dill +1 One wonders why you got a hair-trigger, angry reply from OP. 

I think that if high end manufacturers placed more emphasis on making entry level products that blow your hair back it might garner more enthusiasm for the hobby. The audio tags also cater too much to the stuff that’s out of reach for most of us so that doesn’t help either. Just spitballing here.

If the manufacturers have covered all the bases, why can I not find a SS preamp with the versatility of the $800 Schitt Kara and the $7900 Coda 07x, but with a price in between those two and SQ approaching the latter? (This for backup system -- LS28SE controls the main setup).

As for the threat of overabundant choice: I know how this problem works at, say, Madame Romaine de Lyon with its 100+ different omelettes, and maybe there are too many hard-to-audition speakers for anyone to make a fully informed choice, but there's no surplus of preamps, be they tube or SS or hybrid. Likely because so many now use integrateds or run straight out from streamer/dac units.

@mwinkc Because I already had a run in with 1 Karen yesterday before @dill ..WTH does it matter to anyone if I want to start my threads with ???......
@johnnybwood +1...