Jays Audio Being Dismantled-Final videos

Jay’s an interesting, "wealthy" audiophile enthusiast character who deals in fantasy (for all us dreamers), ultra high-end audio.  The popularity of his youtube channel, which showcased his ultra high-end audiophile equipment journey, blossomed, and he eventually became a on-line dealer and creator of his own line of cables and, I believe, a CD transport.  Jay has also emerged as, due to the overwhelming popularity of his channel, to his credit, somewhat of an ambassador to the entire high-end audio industry.  Pretty start guy!!!  I enjoyed Jay’s channel and wish him all the very best in his future endeavors.  Happy listening.         

Not much point,for me, in watching you tube about components in that price range. 

Really not sure that all the fuss about this guy is warranted. Folks seem to think he's making big money as a hi-fi ambassador, reselling gear that he got at a huge discount and making big money by doing so...  

I was an analyst for many years.  A few of us followed the mantra, "In God we trust, everyone else bring data"  Success of people on youtube, and vendors that "offer them huge discounts" do so based on eyeballs actually viewing videos.  Look at his channel.  36,500 subscribers.  This is a pittance amount of subscriptions. Look at the number of views on any given video he puts out...3000-8000 views is common and occasionally 15 or 20K.  Again..this is a microscopic viewership.   A youtube woodworking channel I subscribe to (a woodworking channel) has 1.2 million subscribers and each videos runs about 250,000 views within 7-10 days of it's  launch. And his youtube channel is not his only source of income.

From what I'm reading, it takes around 1,000,000 views on youtube to generate $3000 in income.  Youtube takes 40-50% of that as their cut. So, if you add up viewership on all the videos Jay's ever made(2500), combined, you may come up with a few million views...let's be generous, say he's got a total of 10,000,000 views over the life of the current channel (5 years)..so $15K gross(his cut) over the 5 year period.

From what we see with respect to his channel..that income doesn't support his habit, a wife and kid(s), car(s), and a house.  

So, either he's

> working another job for income (that he isn't disclosing)

> is financially independent from previous income (that he isn't disclosing)

> living off his wife's financially independent status or income from work (that he isn't disclosing)

Given his viewership on youtube, I really doubt he's commanding "huge discounts" and "making a killing" on the gear he's apparently buying and selling. It would be hard to believe the ultra-high-end vendors would be offering huge discounts for the minimal viewership he commands.  From a pure branding perspective, ultra-high-end vendors would be diminishing their brands by actively (encouraging) associating themselves with such a minor player. They're selling a lifestyle to their target customers.  You don't succeed in selling an ultra-high-end lifestyle to people (the majority of which can't afford your product) viewing a minor youtube channel.

I don't doubt having these products available to be viewed on youtube can and would enhance their brand, but it would have to be in a different "environment" than what Jay is offering. 

He seems like a nice guy, but I'm not buying the whole schtick he's peddling. 

I am ambivalent about Jay.

On one hand he wears his heart on a sleeve, says whatever comes to his mind, and he seems to have a genuine passion for high-end audio (I am leaving it unsaid if he's a competent critic and listener - that's not my point).

On the other hand, he seems quite self-centered and milking this move, like it's an earth shattering event, for all it's worth with umpteen videos. It has a bit of a drama queen kind of feel to me. 

I think you have to be a certain personality to think that people would be interested in all the minutia of your move.

Check out this video if you haven't seen it.

This is when Jay visited Danny Richie from GR Research's house in Texas.

He was blown away by $5500 open baffle towers running off $400 (each) battery powered mono blocks and $3500 open baffle servo controlled 3x12" subs also powered by batteries. In front of those were a battery powered modified Mac mini and a custom built DAC and a tube pre amp running off,,, you guessed it, battery power.

Could this move to Texas been motivated by this experience???

You make the call. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH4runQr6I8