For the Love of Audio & Hi-Fi. Is it Dead?

[gene]

Much of today’s equipment does not exhibit that same degree of flat-out romance and visceral appeal. Today’s equipment is so uniformly excellent that a lot of the mystique and “skill” of picking out one’s personal system is just not there anymore. We'll discuss how the romantic, emotional appeal of audio gear has changed over the years to more of a disposable society.

I dearly miss going to local hifi shops to demo and touch the gear I was interested in purchasing. Making a purchase online is just not the same. I wrote about the best home theater receivers of all time and of a strong mindset that the golden age of that category of product ended with the demise of the super receivers in the early 2000's. I'm in agreement with Steve that audio gear performance is more predictable today (especially with loudspeakers) than decades ago making it easier to build systems that sound good with less trial and error. However, the streamlined selection process and reduced shelf life caused by new technologies emerging at substantially more rapid rate has certainly made us value the components we select less than ever today. Food for thought.

Do you still have that lovin' feelin' for audio gear?

Read: Is the Romance of High Fidelity Dead?

Share your comments below.

 

[Trell]

I still like to spend time to research and spend time on selecting audio components, same as when I was young. My "romance", so to speak, is that I like the components to look nice in my living room. Of course opinions differs as to what looks nice.

I've started to treat my difficult living room acoustically and that will do much more to improve the sound quality than any combination of amplifiers.

Acoustical panels have improved in looks over the years, and I wish I had known about GIK Acoustics' Impression and Alpha series panels earlier as they look very nice in a living room. In my small home office I've 2 inch (50 mm) GIK Impression Pro panels on the walls, and thicker than 2 inch would take away too much real estate, but treatment is for video calls and is already a very nice improvement.

https://gikacoustics.eu/product/impression-series-100mm-bass-trap-diffusor-absorber/

Impression Pro Series Corner Bass Trap – GIK Acoustics Europe

gikacoustics.eu

 

[lovinthehd]

Been a long time since I spent time in "hi-fi" stores....these days would be a very long drive to even visit one but no real desire to otoh. Did do that quite a bit though when I really started getting interested in audio gear in '70 or so. Had several shops I could go look at and listen to gear....or even just well recorded and tasteful music, as that was often being played. That photo definitely looks familiar ....heck I still have those records and play 'em too (altho generally digital versions these days, altho I still have the LPs). Spent a fair bit of time at Tower Records, too but no desire to go LP shopping any more either.

 

[killdozzer]

I would say it changed for the majority. A very important reason for that is the fact people don't socialize in the same way. When I was a kid, grownups would gather around the stereo in the living room, they would play records and dance. I and my friends still do this as a nostalgia. But no one does that for good times anymore.

My personal relation to my stereo audio set up didn’t change, but that hardly counts for anything. I enjoy it visually, I arrange it as a decoration as well as good sound. It’s the centre of my living room. No day passes without me playing something and every so often me and my lady play music loud and try to sing along. We also use music in our acts and really can use overwhelming sound of a good stereo to inspire a certain interpretation.

It is still alive as a niche. In my town there are many small pretty audio shops. I already talked about that in these forums. It’s a small town, but it has 8 or 9 working brick&mortar fancy audio shops with dedicated listening rooms.

It’s just that it’s not mainstream as it used to be in the 70’. Back then, stereo gear was almost like a kitchen stove, every household had one. I dread people playing their music to me these days. They connect BT to a small single wireless JBL speaker and play some horrible youtube clips and expect you to fall in a trance together with them on how amazing the sound is and I honestly can’t endure it until it’s over.

But their amazement with what just went on with their little squawker tells me they don’t care about it anymore.

 

[shadyJ]

Another great article, Steve! The lead image of the giant Bluetooth speaker behind the family is hilarious.

As for the title question, I don't think the love of hi-fi audio is dead. But, as was mentioned, it is very much a niche hobby nowadays, at least two-channel hi-fi is. Much of it has transformed into home theater. I see a lot of guys obsess over home theater equipment much like the two-channel crowd that you describe. That obsession over the process of doing your homework, picking your components, and putting it all together is the same.

Also look how popular headphones have become. Hi-fi headphones are a much bigger thing now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and it is younger people driving that hobby instead of retirees. It's the same thing.

I also think that many of the process-oriented people of which you speak are much more into putting together desktop computers nowadays rather than hi-fi stereos. Once upon a time, they might have been A/V nerds, but the nature of entertainment has changed, although the same personalities are there. Now they are piecing together computers instead of hi-fi systems. What video card to get? What computer case? Should it look like a colorful RBG explosion or should it look more restrained and sophisticated? How far can I push liquid cooling? What cable management techniques look the slickest?

If you look at the PC hobby, I think a lot of these guys are much more into parts evaluation, selection, and PC assembly than they are into the results. Sure, an optimized system can make some programs run a bit faster, but the time spent tweaking the system to net that extra performance is a lot more than the time saved loading a program or finishing a process. What is an extra 10 frames per second when you are already getting 120 FPS? I see a striking resemblance of the modern PC hobby to what Hi-fi used to be and to some extent still is.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

My own anecdote here. Oftentimes when the younger set hears sound done right, they are amazed by it. But they don't have any interest in owning it themselves. I can tell how much my stepdaughter and her boyfriend enjoy the VR-4's in the living room, for example, but she's never asked how she could replicate that in her bedroom. Knowing what I know, she'd only have to buy a super cheap AVR and borrow my Allison's that I'm not using anyway, and she'd be blown away every time she used it... but she probably thinks it's more expensive and complicated than that.

I think the "results vs process" point really hits it on the head. She loves her JBL bluetooth speaker, but mainly because it's loud and bassy. I'm an audio nerd, so I look for tonal accuracy, presence, soundstage, blah blah blah. In the end, I also have loud and bassy when called for, but you're not going to drag 300 pounds of equipment into the bathroom just to play Spotify while taking a shower.

 

[Trell]

Another great article, Steve! The lead image of the giant Bluetooth speaker behind the family is hilarious.

As for the title question, I don't think the love of hi-fi audio is dead. But, as was mentioned, it is very much a niche hobby nowadays, at least two-channel hi-fi is. Much of it has transformed into home theater. I see a lot of guys obsess over home theater equipment much like the two-channel crowd that you describe. That obsession over the process of doing your homework, picking your components, and putting it all together is the same.

Also look how popular headphones have become. Hi-fi headphones are a much bigger thing now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and it is younger people driving that hobby instead of retirees. It's the same thing.

I also think that many of the process-oriented people of which you speak are much more into putting together desktop computers nowadays rather than hi-fi stereos. Once upon a time, they might have been A/V nerds, but the nature of entertainment has changed, although the same personalities are there. Now they are piecing together computers instead of hi-fi systems. What video card to get? What computer case? Should it look like a colorful RBG explosion or should it look more restrained and sophisticated? How far can I push liquid cooling? What cable management techniques look the slickest?

If you look at the PC hobby, I think a lot of these guys are much more into parts evaluation, selection, and PC assembly than they are into the results. Sure, an optimized system can make some programs run a bit faster, but the time spent tweaking the system to net that extra performance is a lot more than the time saved loading a program or finishing a process. What is an extra 10 frames per second when you are already getting 120 FPS? I see a striking resemblance of the modern PC hobby to what Hi-fi used to be and to some extent still is.

One can be a computer and audio nerd at the same time, just saying

I've worked (still do) as a professional software developer for decades so I get to "play" with nice stuff at work, though at home I prioritize silent PC but with a good performance as well as stability, even when gaming.

 

[Trebdp83]

The young of today aren't really that different from the young of long ago. For every guy who loved his HiFi years ago, his kid may have loved his transistor radio and ear plug and didn't think his dad's HiFi was anything special because it couldn't travel. That kid grew up and finally got into nice audio equipment for his home but his kid preferred his Walkman. Then, that kid grew up and got into home theater and music using a multi channel setup but his kid likes watching movies and listening to music on his iphone using airpods. Something is definitely lost when purchasing items online and nothing beat looking at LPs in a record shop. It doesn't help that receivers today are mostly boring black boxes and brushed metal surfaces and wood trim are all but gone. Young people are attracted to phones of varying shapes, sizes and colors and have many options.

 

[pcosmic]

Shady made a good point. Many legitimate hifi nerds, who haven't discovered their true hifi selves are hiding in the PC enthusiast and gamer crowd. Several younger lads/lasses i play MMOs with have been thrilled by the affordable DAC and desktop audio suggestions i've made. It was a huge step up from the junk they'd been using for gaming+music and I have changed their lives apparently! Both my son and daughter have their hifi integrated into their PC setups. Even though i bought my son a pair of studio 590s, he barely ever is on it and is fiddling around on PC audio. I don't think today's generation consumes less music than mine. In fact, i think their digital audio libraries are uuggeee (would be the equivalent of rooms filled with cds and vinyl).

 

[Cos]

For me, my interest in home audio/video came from my loves of movies and wanting the best experience from home. That eventually evolved more on the audio side. Though nothing like Hi-Fi of days past, to date I have never bought anything, outside of cables and home automation, from an online e-tailor. All my speakers, receivers, amps, TVs has been purchased directly from AV specialty shops. In my area, there seems to be a mini-resurgence of these types of shops as the few I visited were swamped and doing well. At least Covid was good for some businesses. Possibly being cooped up has made people more aware that there are better audio options out there.

 

[Kingnoob]

Considering the top selling brands aren’t hifi or audiophile quality and blue tooth speakers and soundbars sell the most I’d say hifi is dead except in the niche markets of home audio and receivers.
Tho today’s headphones are really popular some of the mainstream brands are ehhh pricey for there quality like beats , Bose , zzz ..
hifi stereos were far better sound quality then Bluetooth speakers ... despite both being low end .but old big stereos are gone extinct .... sadly
I won’t really miss there crappy drivers ... I got few pairs of there speakers collecting dust never used .
Shame I never got a jvc gigatube stereo those looked cool
Audio stores are non existent were I live , they used to be here 10-20 years ago .
Bestbuy has no sound room anymore and much lesss speaker selection.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KEW]

The young of today aren't really that different from the young of long ago. For every guy who loved his HiFi years ago, his kid may have loved his transistor radio and ear plug and didn't think his dad's HiFi was anything special because it couldn't travel. That kid grew up and finally got into nice audio equipment for his home but his kid preferred his Walkman. Then, that kid grew up and got into home theater and music using a multi channel setup but his kid likes watching movies and listening to music on his iphone using airpods. Something is definitely lost when purchasing items online and nothing beat looking at LPs in a record shop. It doesn't help that receivers today are mostly boring black boxes and brushed metal surfaces and wood trim are all but gone. Young people are attracted to phones of varying shapes, sizes and colors and have many options.

View attachment 43659

I'd have to disagree with you on that!
IMHO, it was the totally crappy sound quality of devices like that in the picture that drove me to seek better quality sound. Apparently, almost everyone else felt the same way because almost everyone sought better quality gear and IME it happened in the high school - college years. I guess we also need to credit the manufacturers of this gear as I also believe what made this such a "golden age" of audio was the fact that the improvements in sound quality were in hyperdrive (compared to pervious and later years).
I think we can draw an analogy from the car stereo evolution. As a kid, a car came with an AM/FM radio with a marginal speaker mounted in the top-center of the dashboard. SQ sucked! Not much later, a company like Crutchfield was able to blossom by providing good prices on car audio gear along with the support to allow anyone who was willing to invest the time to swap out their car system (and most importantly specifying what gear would fit your car). It is nice to see that Crutchfield is still around (as so many other audio outlets have failed), but the market for car audio upgrades is not near what it used to be because even the basic stock audio systems of today are generally decent and many of the "premiere" systems can be outright impressive (maybe not the best, but very good)!
In the late-80's, I picked up a Sharp "boombox" for $249 from Sam's Club on the recommendation of one of my audio friends who had listened to everything he could find, and this was the best (I listened to it at his house before buying it). It was impressively good, and I remember musing to him "If they had stuff like this when I was in high school, I would have probably never gone to the effort/expense to assemble a proper stereo system". I think that statement fairly explains the demise of the "love of audio gear"

It is not much different than photography! I still have dedicated (just "point and shoot" digital) cameras, but I only take them if I am travelling to someplace where I know there will be spectacular views. However, even that puts me in the minority. I expect the vast majority do not have (or have not touched in over a year it if they do) a "stand-alone" camera! The ones built into today's phones are good enough for general use!

 

[Trebdp83]

Hey, I hear you. Many grow up and realize there is something else out there and quality is more important than convenience. So, many kids grow up and remember those HiFi systems they were introduced to way back when and begin to look into them. There is fine gear out there now and there are also cheap pieces of crap being sold in some cars around the world and on lots of store shelves and online retailers. Oh, and let’s not leave out the white van special. There will always be those who don’t really care at all, those who want something a bit nicer for themselves and those chasing the audio/video dragon and insist on the latest and greatest no matter the cost. The kid who walked around with that transistor radio thought it was cutting edge. The kid walking around with airpods feels the same. Fifty years from now, somebody will say they can’t believe anybody ever used airpods.

 

[Trebdp83]

There are lots of folks from all over the place posting around here. Any small record stores or chains you all liked and remember from your youth? Liquorice Pizza was one I remember from the 80’s. Loved the logo.

 

[lovinthehd]

There are lots of folks from all over the place posting around here. Any small record stores or chains you all liked and remember from your youth? Liquorice Pizza was one I remember from the 80’s. Loved the logo.
View attachment 43699

I didn't care for most record stores before finding Tower Records, and that became my go-to quickly once discovered. I spent a fortune there The smaller stores that came later like Amoeba were interesting, but just didn't have the same vibe for me but I'd pretty much stopped shopping for vinyl too.

 

[jeffca]

If you were to ask me about when audio equipment looked better, I'd say the 70's & 80's

In the end, though, what I care about is the quality of the sound, not how the equipment looks. I would love to have amps with giant meters, but they won't make it any sound better.

The theater system I own today is orders of magnitude better than the first stereo I bought in 1975. In the end, I prefer what I have now regardless of the fact that it's not as sexy.

 

[Gmoney]

Can't speak for anyone else, but money spent on my audio/video gear is money well spent. My system is on from the time I get up till the time I go to bed. Plus most of the time its on 24/7.

 

[killdozzer]

Can't speak for anyone else, but money spent on my audio/video gear is money well spent. My system is on from the time I get up till the time I go to bed. Plus most of the time its on 24/7.

Not a day goes by... And mine even looks like from 70'. But when I end my day with a glass of good wine and a couple of my songs... It's a ritual.

 

[Gmoney]

Not a day goes by... And mine even look like from 70'. But when I end my day witha glass of good wine and a couple of my songs... It's a ritual.

Dozzer, this may sound crazy, but I been looking over two channel tube amps to add. just to use for music only. Just so at night I can be like this at the tube's glowing when spinning some vinyl.

 

[killdozzer]

Dozzer, this may sound crazy, but I been looking over two channel tube amps to add. just to use for music only. Just so at night I can be like this at the tube's glowing when spinning some vinyl.

You ol' romantic