I love my Hifi

Many moons ago your grandfather listened to his Victrola and it made his hairs stand up. Then your father listened to that console and his hairs stood up. The younger generation listen to their iPHONES and their hairs stand up.
It's all the same!

Hmm. Maybe. I guess it’s all relative to the best you know. Interesting response... 

At the end of the day all of us need a way to nurture our souls. This is human and not a generational phenomena.  Whether it's realized through hifi, a creative outlet, or immersing oneself in nature/built surroundings, humans always end up finding a way.  There are ways beyond hifi to scratch the same itch, even musically.  JMHO

This makes me wonder how many younger people have ever been into hifi. I have seen seen a number of discussions on here in regards to the idea that HEA is dying and kids are missing out. But again how many people on here had a high-end system when they were kids? Most of my friends all had stereo’s but nothing speacial. Mostly Onkyo receivers or something similar paired with Boston Acoustics or Polks or whatever we found in our parents garages.

Sure they weren’t considered hifi by audiophile standards but they brought hours of joy to many a kid who scraped by mowing lawns and washing dishes at the local cafe.

I’ve talked to a lot of baby boomers who are nuts about vintage Pioneer, Sansui and Marantz recievers. They just gobble them up like popcorn because they could never afford them when they were kids. I know guys in their late sixties that have 20 or 30 of them.

Those guys all tell me that almost nobody they knew had the funds to get a real high end system back then and that it was always sort of a niche hobby for the privilege few.

By most audiophile standards those old recievers would probably be considered a “lifestyle” product and not a bonafide hifi amp. But they are still more popular now than ever. All in one streaming amps are being designed by very highend manufacturer out there and similar “lifestyle” products like Sonos wireless speaker systems are everywhere. I would venture to say there are far more speaker, amp and dac manufacturers now than there has ever been. The market is huge. But in order to get younger people involved in this hobby and take the leep from “lifestyle” to hi-fi we as an audio community need to embrace the technology instead of scoff at and shun the idea that a kid with very little money could be content to listen the Chance the Rapper on an iphone with cheap earbuds.. They have to start somewhere.

The common thread here is the love of music. Most on here would probably also scoff at the music this generation listens to. I say who cares they would do the same to yours. The snobbery in this hobby needs to die. Go to an audio show sometime....white haired guys in socks and sandals. Every system playing the same tired Audiophile tracks....yawn. Sean Casey @ Zu Audio understands this very well. Say what you want about his speakers but the guy knows how to bring energy to his demos and his rooms are always packed.

Personally for me when I see companies like Peachtree, Bluesound, Devialet etc bridging the gap between lifestyle and hifi I see hope for this hobby. When I go to brick and mortar stores that do not carry any of these products and a sales staff completley ignorant of what a streamer is I see a dinosaur waiting to become extinct. To be fair most of the shops in my area do carry streamers now or are starting to. But five years ago....no way.

In the end who would you rather be, a kid completley lost in their own world with their earbuds on listening to their favorite band or some neurotic crotchety audiophile on the forums arguing about the efficacy of fuse direction and the benefits of placing wood blocks under speaker wires? You don’t get them and they sure as heck don’t get us. Not yet anyway.

It’s about the music - of course. But it’s also about how that music sounds. I can listen to electronic music and rap and e.g. Sleaford Mods through an audiophile system at home and it sounds so much better than through my iPhone on my morning commute.  It’s a world of difference and I just wish my kids could appreciate that...
but everything is relative to the best you know, I suppose...

@chrshanl37 

Good post. The last paragraph is spot on. 

Good post vinyloid. I do feel sad sometimes for friends and siblings who have never owned or heard a reasonably good system. I think that they are missing so much of the scale and nuance of the music they love, and that it would really matter to them if they knew what it was like. 

Sad if their hair stands up with an IPhone, what would it do with a real good system. I can enjoy music in my car or other less audiophile based systems but it's still not the same as sitting listening to a real great system.

Sad? Why would you feel sad? If they didnt like music at all that might be sad. Face it guys hi-fi isn’t for everybody. I am willing to bet that any of us born into the millennial generation would be very happy with our IPhones and earbuds. I would have killed to have access to this much music and the ability to take it anywhere I wanted. Many say cd’s brought Album, sales down but from what I have read it was actually the cassette tape. Convenience and portability.

Case in point, my daughter never gave a rip about my system when she was really young but then she got her first apartment and I gave her a modest little system I scrapped together from spare components. Nad c370 a Bluesound Node, Mogami Speaker wires and IC’s a pair of ADS speakers and some Pangea Stands.

She really loves that system and her friends come over and are amazed. But what they really like is that they can all hook their phones up and stream to her stereo via Bluetooth from the node.

They have an absolute blast listening to music on her stereo. Now they are all asking me for advice on a starter system and my daughter has expressed interest in visiting the hifi shops in Minneapolis to look into better components/speakers. She also wants a turntable so I am getting her a Rega p3 next.

Actually I think its quite the opposite. Just 10-15 years ago not only did no one else I know have a turntable, but if even if they wanted to there were virtually zero places they could go to try or buy one. Now every stereo store I go to has a turntable in every room, and when I ask around at work the first 20-something guy says yes he has a turntable and records!

So much for equipment. Then I go on YouTube and guess what? There's not just one but a whole genre of videos just about showing peoples reactions when hearing great music for the first time. These people are freaking out over how great the music is! One guy, I still can't believe this, he's listening to Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Which has a long instrumental intro. Which at one point he stops to say how this music has him reflecting back on his life. Okay. So then what's the first words to the song? "Remember when you were young..." dude totally loses it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnobqFNC98U

I'm a pretty jaded skeptical we're circling the drain type, but damned if stuff like this doesn't just give me hope.

Exactly millercarbon people need to have that aha moment. Then the madness ensues lol.

Don't need a hi-fi to listen to rock, cheap smart phone is more than enough .