Just curious, how big is the total market for audiophile hardware? There seem to be a lot of manufactures vying for a a small pool of potential buyers. I've read in places that as boomers age the market is shrinking. I don't know very many young people, but none that i do know are into it. Anyone have any idea what the total market size is?
The mid-fi market is alive and well. The sound quality has moved up a good bit. Audiophiles are everywhere, (they just don't know they are audiophiles.) They are using IEM's and they sound really, REALLY good!! Yes, even with Spotify or You-tube.
The more affluent group are using sound bars with subwoofers usually connected to the TV. Both in the den or out on the patio. Honestly, they sound pretty darn good and are perfectly adequate for dinner parties or half time shows during superbowl.
In car stereo is better than ever, especially when connected to stream off the phone. Big sound improvements have been made.
Everyone I know has one or the other. Music listening is everywhere. Even on the golf range hitting balls!!
The "Golden Age" of music reproduction is now not 25 years ago. Various components... Headphones/Loudspeakers(Standmounts)/All in One units have exceeded expectations of what was thought possible 25 years ago. Nobody has a "Crystal Ball" to predict the exact future of HEA but there will always be a segment that wants/desires a no compromise system regardless of size/cost and space required.
Electronics and home entertainment market is big. Market for bulky, inefficient, expensive things in general is not good and will only get worse. Technical advancement has changed things a lot from the golden age of hifi that peaked back in the 20th century which is already a quarter century old. Moving ahead and not backwards is the key to survival. Older people struggle with that. Younger ones take it stride just like we old codgers used to when we were young and learned to like our fancy toys of the time. Some things never change.
Axpona had a record attendance of around 10993, up 5%. I am 61 so don't be offended but judging by the pictures of attendees our time has passed. I did note that the obligatory AED in each room had silver wiring to match my hair. So yes, literally dying off like my Ladies newspaper business.
Also, no house to play in without neighbors beating on walls etc, why bother. Sad. Just streamed Dear Prudence, no idea of the bass buried in a tune I have heard for 50 years.
I looked at that comment I posted and I wasn't comfortable with it, so I deleted it right away. But I guess the forum must have sent an email notification. Sorry about that.
@devinplombierI am very respectful to others. For instance I don't have anyone's comments removed. But respect is only afforded until someone attacks me or spreads lies knowingly. Any conversation here is moot now as most of my comments are removed because the truth inconveniences "some". This has become a forum for the bullies to ridicule people and silence them.
It very much reflects the world out there (in the US) where one side spreads lies and limits any free speech they don't like and the other side has to shut up.
There is certainly an audiophiles crowd increasing in China though...
I ordered at peanuts cost (25 bucks) not only a linear power supply but at 40 bucks a conditioner for DC for my amplifier and it work too without negative impact...
I will not recommend this for a 20,000 bucks system..
But for a system under 1000 bucks as mine it does marvel...( lower audible noise floor increase) ...
After appropriate grounding and a good conditioner +linear power supply the noise floor level are so good it is black background...
These offering of a Chinese company specialized in audiophile products reveal there is a demand for low cost audiophiles products which must work if the company want to survive... It reveal an increasing crowd of Chinese customers asking for these affordable but anyway audiophile quality products...
I apologize if i were the cause of any discomfort...
Your sincere words prove to me that i am wrong to have conflate you with some others...
I regret that our encounter turned "sour" ...
My best sincerely ...
Unfortunately you are by far not the worst kind here. You are a human being with a heart and mostly good intentions, you just have an issue with separating facts from feelings.
I am against the removal of any post save murder appeal...
The reason is simple :
I use my brain and i stand behind my arguments...
Now where did i insinuate to begin with about someone personality here ?
Nowhere. I answer to someone attacking me grossly... Yes...
After that , accused of being narcissist, and others epiteths, i answered to those who did that...
Some attacked me in this thread and on others thread (deep33 among others) with no rational argument about the matter of the thread or about my own take on the matter of a thread but against my "person" "per se", even if they were right it is impossible to tolerate ad hominem attack against anybody ..
I am again censorship of any posts because it erase manifested stupidity from those who throw personal attacks...
Even the post accusing me of murder (covid)...I can defend myself from accusation i have a working brain...
is it clear for those who like insinuating and attacking people without any proof ?
I dont tolerate personal attack of this kind even again anyone here not just myself.....
Anybody accusing me of derailing this thread since my apology in my last post must ask abnerjack to be responsible in his postings with insinuations...
Insinuations are worst than insults...
I dislike hypocrite...
And i am not amused by stupidity... ( stupidity is causing wrongs to someone without even taken a benefit from it)
And i never joined a gang attacking someone either here as a scapegoat...as it occured some times against some "personalities"...
I prefer to be on the side of those alone or isolated...
I dont spoke bad either about those who are no more here...
I hope abnerjack has taken note and will abstain in the next year of insinuations about me...
@mahgister and his morals and scruples personally, how do you know he doesn’t go whining to mommy for a deletion and then responds loudly. Are you one of his enablers/apologists? Did you have the post removed? Do you not see the double standard, or do you have one-sided sight as well?
@jetterI'm not sure what difference it makes, but I must be an old timer as well. I'm 74 years old and have been on this site since 2009; so not particularly wet behind the ears. Unless you know @mahgister and his morals and scruples personally, how do you know he doesn't go whining to mommy for a deletion and then responds loudly. Are you one of his enablers/apologists? Did you have the post removed? Do you not see the double standard, or do you have one-sided sight as well?
It seems that @mahgister or one of his enablers/apologists objected to my post and some others and went crying to Mommy about their maltreatment. @mahgister won’t admit to it and if he didn’t do it no one else will admit to it either.
Your completely wrong if you think @mahgisterwould bother to have your or anyone else’s post removed. If you haven’t noticed, he stands up for himself and your read or insinuation regarding his nature is way off base to many of us "old timers" who enjoy mahgister being here.
You must have written something that in your estimation was witty but the mods thought the general readership wouldn’t think so.
Gee, you’d think the moderators would have noticed such behavior. How did they miss it? Perhaps you should alert them. Or, you could just leave @mahgister alone. He’s been a welcome presence here for a long time.
An excellent post cleeds, I wish I had written it. @mahgister, my friendly advice would be to just not respond to them. We will be here for years to come, not worth the effort today.
my sentence do not appear as an ad hominem attack but as an observation about your behaviour posting about me as person and not about my proposition in my posts about my journey as audiophile:
grounding methods and acoustics concepts importance etc ...
This post of me above describe my own audiophile journey in part...
How in the world someone can takes a bit of irony mixed with my own audiophile journey for an attack on all audiophiles ?
Excuse me but you are deluded or very sensible skin...
Anybody else reading this think that my intention was mocking all audiophiles ?
my intention was pointing to acoustics as the best tool to learn..
And grounding process at peanuts cost exist and work...
Is it necessary to ban irony ?
At least i dont use only sarcasms against specific person here as the one calling me narcissist or deep33 insulting me for one year non stop...
Ironical i am sometimes yes...
But i dont attack anyone in particular as you just did with no argument except truncating my post, your first post above pretending that i attack all audiophile forgetting that i am myself an audiophiles as i said multiple times ..
Read an acoustic article instead of reading my posts ...
By the way did you know that you can ground a piece of gear at no cost with small quartz or other convenient minerals and a copper cable ?
it does not takes a genius to read my proposition as an experiment ...
here you cut my post from his thread context: What is the most underestimated fact in audio ?
Then you arrange the post truncating it from his context to make it as if i had disparaged everybody instead of recommending to pay attention to the grounding process : grounding each piece of gear rightfully...
They played with the gear pieces never were really concerned and never studied acoustics...
I am the only real audiophile i knew now, i used a dedicated room, and i studied how to makes it holographic with basic gear because i could not enter the upgrades race. My budget lack was my luck but i did not knew at the times....
I succeeded but it takes me 2 years full time to understand how to do it at no cost...
Most people called audiophiles here buy gear pieces without end on a race to upgrade the sound...
Gear matter for sure...
But acoustics matter way more than the choice between relatively good basic pieces of gear...
Most dont want to know this simple truth, because they dont have a room dedicated only to audio, they dont have the time to study acoustics... And a dedicated acoustics room done by a pro cost more than a high end system anyway...
What is an audiophile?
It is a fool with money who buy gear pieces one after the other or a fool with no money ready to have fun in a dedicated room whose hobby is acoustics (me)...
There is rare people with unlimited budget spending money on room and gear....
They dont buy quartz to ground their gear homemade.... They bought costlier product...
You posts attacks are so thin asnd of bad faith i will not answer each one...
I am sorry you consider my questions an attack on you. Maybe when you find an appropriate explanation why you say what you do, you can respond.
You call me a narcissist because you dont have argument...
Where did I call you a narcissist? Why do you assume my post is about you? Have an argument about what?
You are the one twisting my post sentence and distorting them to make a point..
Okay, here it is now:
What is an audiophile?
It is a fool with money who buy gear pieces one after the other or a fool with no money ready to have fun in a dedicated room whose hobby is acoustics (me)...
There is rare people with unlimited budget spending money on room and gear....
They dont buy quartz to ground their gear homemade.... They bought costlier product...
Please forgive me for not quoting all your words. My partial quote gave you some edge to vilify me and vindicate yourself. I guess this is now an argument. And you have won the argue.
You called audiophiles fools but you really do not think audiophiles are fools. I was wrong.
I dont see how your post is a constructive post and not an attack or insinuation against me ?
Calling someone out for name calling (audiophiles are fools) was a mistake on my part. I am sorry.
Obviously you have all day to post on Audiogon. I do not. So you can continue post and win all the arguments. My hat off to you sir.
You are not ashamed to be so bad faith in front of everybody?
I will if i was in your shoes...
They dont buy quartz to ground their gear homemade.... They bought costlier product...
And your point is?
You judge and smirk at people who do not live the way you think is correct?
here you cut my post from his thread context: What is the most underestimated fact in audio ?
Then you arrange the post truncating it from his context to make it as if i had disparaged everybody instead of recommending to pay attention to the grounding process : grounding each piece of gear rightfully...
I proposed cheap method to do it with only quartz or others minerals, for 10 years now, so what ?
I dont think that attacking someone as "narcissist" after truncating his posts and stripping them from their context distorting my intention is a wise and intelligent way of doing thing...
You posts attacks are so thin and of bad faith i will not answer each one...
You call me a narcissist because you dont have argument...
You are the one twisting my post above and my sentence and distorting them of their intention to make a point and present it as an insult to all audiophiles, as it is clear that being an audiophile myself i crossed the same crossroad as everybody...
Gear matter for sure...
But acoustics matter way more than the choice between relatively good basic pieces of gear...
Most dont want to know this simple truth,
What makes you the determinator of what is truth and what is not?
Guess what are the objective facts in audio science ?
It is acoustics research which is the truth...( not mere room acoustic as most thought about when they see the word "acoustic")
Read Edgar Choueiri about sound...
Before upgrading...
And i dont merely and mainly recommend to buy a piece of gear here like the other lying clown suggested falsely to disparage my point ... i recommend his science papers articles and videos to understand some acoustics truth...
Choueiri....Chouerie...Choueiri all day long...but, never ever heard a BACCH processor.
I will not add to the lies and insults of deep 33
I will only correct one of his false claims about me...
Dr. Choueiri is a physicist and acoustician who publishes articles in acoustics...
I discovered him reading his articles few years ago...
He do not SELL gear as a means of living by the way ...
He is not a reviewer...
He is a scientist and i recommended multiple times since few years his articles which helped me figure out audio as well as Floyd Toole and Dr. Gorike...
Nobody need to hear his BACCH system to read science and learn why he is a genius in acoustics as was Dr. Gorike the founder of AKG ...
If you doubt my words read all the posts of insults of deep33 since a year anytime i spoke in a post...
He mocked me without stop when i said i tuned my resonators by ears...( he seems to think it is impossible)
He attacked me with a flow of insults when i discussed with Amir ( A very polite person) about what is Timbre he throwed insults at me with no arguments about the acoustics concepts under discussion...
i never insulted him...I even congratulated him in the beginning...He has a bad memory unlike me...
But as i do right now i ANSWER and correct him and i will answer any other person who go with ad hominem attack...It is why i dont need to be defended i can do it myself with reason...
Dont trust me, track his posts insults count against me and count the times he gave me a rational argument...
I never spoke to the audiogon staff about anybody here by the way ... Even when one here accuse me of murder...
You can ask Tammy...
I never need anybody to defend me...
As many knows i wrote posts myself and i dont lack rational arguments...
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about people "Who bought costlier product" is not an attack?