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High End is Dead?

Browsing used audio sites such as Audiogon and the Marts, high end gear ads are dominated by several dealers. Non-dealer ads are usually people trying to push 15+ year old off-brand junk at 60-70% of MSRP (when they were new). They don't sell anything. You could slash Wilsons, Magicos, etc, 50% off retail and no one will buy them.

No one buys if it costs more than 1k. It's not that they're not interested -- the ads get plenty of views. It's that the asking prices are just way over the ability of buyers to pay. Fact is, if you see a high end piece for sale it's probably by a dealer, often times trying to push it at 15% off retail because its a trade in, but also often they are taking a good chunk off the price 30, 40 sometimes 50% off. They can be famous brands with a million positive reviews. No buyers.

Are we just poor, and that's all there is to it? 
madavid0

Showing 8 responses by craigl59

craigl59
307 posts
 
Schubert:
Or, the old quote, "The rich get richer and the poor get children..."
The trends noted here are the natural result of the cultural downturn in musical activities and the shift towards streaming -- where you can get anything immediately at no or low cost.
Who is going to spend huge amounts on a system in order to stream MP3 files? Well over 60% of current listeners stream only and this delights the small crowd controlling the process because they can ensure some revenue from each listen. But musicians lose.
High res MP3 (LOL) and MQA files might move this large crowd towards higher end audio equipment but there are a lot of unknowns. Who would have thought that Spotify would get the kind of stock opening it just received? As with Amazon and Google wonder if the big money has made its choice for the music streamer of the future.
craigl59
307 posts
 

Musical style also has an impact on high-end audio purchase. Classical music requires significantly higher audio quality to sound pleasurable than do most popular styles. SO, as classical style fades significantly out of our culture, there is less style-driven support for high-end equipment. When I put together my first audiophile quality system 10 or so years ago, I started listening more and more to classical feeds because on better systems they blow you away with the musician's skill and overall power of the ensemble.

This is akin to what has happened to piano sales. Most players today buy electronic instruments and few have ever played on a quality grand. So, like those who are not used to audiophile sound, they attribute little value to what they do not experience.

craigl59
307 posts
 
If I was a builder or inventor in HEA I would be concerned with two cultural preferences: 1) will streaming largely dominate the upcoming listening world and 2) which musical styles and file formats are likely to be the most popular.
If, consequently, I concluded that we will all be streamers soon and listening to, largely, Beck-type blendings of pop and hip-hop, then I would concentrate on RME-type computer DACs with headphone/IEM excellence, Lyngdorf-type all-in-ones that handle DAC, preamp, and amp functions, and monitor speakers that fit into small spaces and are designed to provide a step up from headphones.
OH, WAIT A MINUTE...
...that's exactly what's already happening.
So maybe HEA as we used to know it is, already, dead.
Pass Labs, with its XA25 and Magico, with its A3 are already "slumming" in order to broaden their customer base.
The continued success of separate components, large speakers, and specialty interconnects would be tied (in my HEA mind) to the continued success of distribution mediums such as LPs, CDs, and HD downloads.
Instead, the just-released CD "Volunteer" by the Old Crow Medicine Show (excellent, btw) shows a distressing trend in modern CD production. Yes, it's a CD at 16/44.1 but the signal is so heavily compressed that there is no real dynamic range -- all is simply pushed as close to 0 DB as possible. Very loud with a dulling sameness that shouts "You get the MP3 sound ideal no matter what the distribution medium."
craigl59
307 posts
 
+1 folkfreak
Robert/Audiopoint:
Pretty sure we live on different planets but I admire your positivism and well-written creativity.
Here's something from John Prine's new album, "The Tree of Forgiveness:"
"The lonesome friends of science say
The world will end most any day
Well if it does then that's OK
'Cause i don't live here anyway..."
Yes, it's a great CD and you should listen to the final cut/masterpiece "When I Get to Heaven."
On High-end gear, that is!
craigl59
307 posts
 

+1 Michael

You describe the situation perfectly as age and generational-based. Am in my mid-60s and went to a professional orchestra concert recently. Was the youngest person there by a large margin.

There are few or no young orchestral lovers coming up and wonder if the HEA landscape is similar.

craigl59
307 posts
 
flescher
42,000 records and CDs! How do you store and access them? Only have about 2500 CDs and find it is necessary to spend some time with organization -- even though they are all ripped in JRiver. Hardly ever need to access the original source.
You must have a warehouse somewhere. Or, perhaps, some hired musicologists to help you with playback.
craigl59
307 posts
 

flescher:

Meant to add that you can add your own categories in JRiver in order to organize your collection (called a Library here). So, I define each rip with the qualifiers "genre" and "period" and can then use the advanced menu creation ability to search on these items nested in any order.

So, if you are in a mood for romantic music, you go to that menu then choose from the subheadings for "Orchestral," "Choral," et al. The picture of the albums available then appears with all of the track info.

Works great for large collections and allows you to custom tailor your collection according to your particular listening habits. No matter how orderly my CDs are grouped, I still could not access them in this friendly a fashion.

craigl59
307 posts
 
Fascinating. Great to hear a behind-the-scenes inventory. Myself, enjoy the capability of taking my entire collection from summer to winter places on a Crucial 2tb drive. But we all must be a little envious of your hoard.
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