Are we the last 'Hifi' generation?

[bigfish786]

I don’t think that hifi is an aspirational product for young people. A phone and earbuds does the job, later they get a car, and the phone goes in there and plays their music, smart speaker in the home does the same. So, it’s going to be a hard sell persuading some young person they need a load of other boxes in order to listen to the music they have on their phone. Oh, and of course have to spend way more money to buy these boxes. Hifi is a niche product and will only become more rare.

 

[tpetsch]

Later generations have been groomed by the mass media to live in a disposable economy, living in a nothing is meant to be repaired and no one gets their hands dirty environment, simply throw that old thing it away and replaced with the new version lest you appear impoverished and not up to date, newer, flashier and more expensive than the last is just assumed to be better with little thought or argument..

 

[Alex S]

They have indeed but there are environmental/right to repair countermeasures that seem more prevalent in the young than the old.

 

[stevec67]

Later generations have been groomed by the mass media to live in a disposable economy, living in a nothing is meant to be repaired and no one gets their hands dirty environment, simply throw that old thing it away and replaced with the new version lest you appear impoverished and not up to date, newer, flashier and more expensive than the last is just assumed to be better with little thought or argument..

How does this differ from the hifi consumption promoted by the hifi mags of the last 30 years?

 

[FranzD]

The ability to evaluate kit from YouTube videos: Despite lossy compression and cheap laptop speakers, this gene gives audiophiles the ability to assess kit from videos online; it's a form of super hearing despite having tinnitus and hearing loss around 8–12kHz in the left ear

 

[ricko01]

Given the anecdotes are flying... here's mine.

Lived in Miami for 15 years... now back home in Kiwiland.

Got two step daughters still there..both attractive with 100% Brazilian genes.

They are 40 and 44 now and I lived with them from their mid teens until early twenties when they left home (so a period of 10 years of ~1998 to 2008)

Given their good looks we (wife and I) had a revolving door of suitable (and unsuitable) suitors.

Due to living in an detached apartment, my stereo system (not shabby by any means) was in full view in the lounge.

Not once did any boy/mannish boy take an interest in the system.

If you rolled that back to say the 80's then I am sure I would have got some interest and certainly if the modern me was a boy/mannish boy in this situation I would take an interest.

So based on my reasonable sample set, people under 40 have no interest in stereo systems.

Peter

 

[Alex S]

I suspect the venn overlap of suitors of attractive young women / hifi geek has always been a very narrow one.

 

[Mike Hughes]

The reality is that hi-fi, as opposed to music listening, has always been a minority interest. I don’t see anything which has changed there. The change is the rise of interests which compete with music listening such as gaming. Even so I see more young people listening to music than there ever was in my childhood. All that’s really changed are the cultural attachments. So yeah this generation doesn’t sit listening to the charts on a Tuesday lunch time in the playground. Yeah, they don’t sit around in the sixth form listening to music; arguing over what’s next on the turntable; sharing round the weeks music papers and, yeah, in some ways I’m sad they won’t experience those things but then every generation is sad about what they believe the next generation has lost. It’s hardly unique.

The reality is that young people listen to just as much music as we did if not more. They may not buy it but that’s because their choices have expanded not contracted. They may not argue over the Beatles v The Stones or Slade v Sweet or what gets played etc. Whilst we think back on such cultural wars romantically they simply don’t need to. They’re effectively unencumbered by such considerations and their tastes (and arguably ours) are richer in consequence. Yeah we bemoan the reducing influence of the album as a concept just as much as we bemoan the loss of the 45rpm single but so what. Things always change. Most things sow the seeds of their own destruction.They can listen to what they like when they like thanks to the personalisation of audio. If I had to choose between my offspring having a love of music, which they do, or a love of hi-fi then I’d choose music every time.

The history of music listening has always been that, given the choice between quality and portability and miniaturisation, the latter two always win. Similarly, whilst audiphiles bang on about the joys of media ownership and fetishise the rituals of vinyl, as though the only way music could be enjoyed, we have always been in an overwhelming minority there too. Again, I see no change. The desire to start threads like this doesn’t really reflect anything other than a desire to visit a past that never existed.

 

[Del monaco]

I tried to nudge my son years ago. We decorated his bedroom whilst he was away and I set up a nice Nad based system with Elas on a proper rack. I was jealous myself. Within weeks he had moved all to the garage and the proceeded to use his Bluetooth Boom for music. My hifi heart was broken, but years later, the vinyl revival has peaked his interest and he’s building a retro vinyl based system. There’s hope yet!

 

[gustav_errata]

The reality is that hi-fi, as opposed to music listening, has always been a minority interest. I don’t see anything which has changed there. The change is the rise of interests which compete with music listening such as gaming. Even so I see more young people listening to music than there ever was in my childhood. All that’s really changed are the cultural attachments. So yeah this generation doesn’t sit listening to the charts on a Tuesday lunch time in the playground. Yeah, they don’t sit around in the sixth form listening to music; arguing over what’s next on the turntable; sharing round the weeks music papers and, yeah, in some ways I’m sad they won’t experience those things but then every generation is sad about what they believe the next generation has lost. It’s hardly unique.

The reality is that young people listen to just as much music as we did if not more. They may not buy it but that’s because their choices have expanded not contracted. They may not argue over the Beatles v The Stones or Slade v Sweet or what gets played etc. Whilst we think back on such cultural wars romantically they simply don’t need to. They’re effectively unencumbered by such considerations and their tastes (and arguably ours) are richer in consequence. Yeah we bemoan the reducing influence of the album as a concept just as bemoan the loss of the erroneous single but so what. Things always change. Most things sow the seeds of their own destruction.They can listen to what they like when they like thanks to the personalisation of audio. If I had to choose between my offspring having a love of music, which they do, or a love of hi-fi then I’d choose music every time.

The history of music listening has always been that, given the choice between quality and portability and miniaturisation, the latter two always win. Similarly, whilst audiphiles bang on about the joys of media ownership and fetishise the rituals of vinyl, as though the only way music could be enjoyed, we have always been in an overwhelming minority there too. Again, I see no change. The desire to start threads like this doesn’t really reflect anything other than a desire to visit a past that never existed.

I'm pretty sure the thread can be locked now. No further discussion needed.

 

[herb]

I was hooked on HiFi during music lessons at school having also been to a Mozart live concert. The school mobile music system was a trolley with a 301, Quad valve amp and a single 57 mounted. I suppose if music appreciation is still taught at school less exotic equipment is used.

 

[John]

I think there will be a glut of LP vinyl records ten to twenty years from now just as there was in a smaller way back when the compact disk came out. It will be good time for a young person who wants to assemble a record collection. Used LP records are way overpriced right now.

Same with used hi-fi gear. There will be a large supply with little demand.

 

[Hcanning]

Hifi as a hobby in itself has always been niche. Granted most living rooms in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s were adorned with big mainstream mini/midi hifi systems from a high street store, which is not the case anymore, but that's because you can buy a considerably more compact bluetooth/streaming speaker system which sounds just as good if not better. It's not because fewer people are listening to music.