Is Hifi getting better, or stagnating?
It feels pretty healthy to me, some examples in my life time of listening to music.
Classic, quality products of yesteryear are still around in good original/refurbished condition at bargain prices.
Modern technology products, I’m thinking the likes of Dutch and Dutch speakers, Devialet, Roon, Spotify, modern DSP/room correction etc I feel are genuinely leading edge and very appealing. Combined with the traditional stalwarts still churning out original and new products (the likes of Linn, Naim, Kef, Tannoy and Rega spring to mind) it is all very good to see.
I also see very great strides have been made by the likes of Apple/Sonos/Bluesound who have brought access to high quality sound to millions (billions?) of people for not a lot of money, my iPad, playing Spotify (or Radio 2
) through standard cheap Apple earbuds is perfectly good enough to enjoy music. (Incidentally I was gobsmacked yesterday when my daughter and wife were talking over their latest gen IPhone’s over the built in speakers, the daughters voice was pretty lifelike, pretty amazing really).
So, overall it doesn’t feel to me that it’s a doomed industry, yes, it’s moved on and changed, but for people who like music to sound good then there’s still plenty of options and interesting products out there.