My definition of "high end audio" is equipment that I would like to own but will never be able to afford. If I suddenly find that I can afford an item, no matter how much it costs, it immediately loses its high-end status.

In simple terms: Wages did not keep pace with the cost of HiEnd Audio.....heck in the last 30 years wages did not keep pace with anything...college, healthcare, housing....

I have just recently discovered this channel. I am not really an audiophile - just a working musician. This channel is so relaxing and informative at the same time. Great content.

I think this is the golden age of audio now. I'm 67 years old. There are many companies dedicated to making quality audio at fair prices. To name a new: Zu, Tekton, PSAUDIO, Emotiva, SVS, REL, Harbeth, Falcon, Schitt, Elac, Dayton, Vanatoo, Micca, Grado, Outlaw, Devore, KEF, Magnapan, Klipsch, Ohm, Buchardt, Edifier, Wharfdale, Martin Logan, B&W, etc etc etc. Pick a budget, pick a sound, sit back and enjoy.

The Loudness wars......All Compression, no dynamic range. No high end equipment can fix that.

🤯🤯 71 years old time has been kind to you you look great I hope you live to be over a hundred and you really are just 35 if you stand on one leg LOL love you Paul keep up the good work you're a living legend

Thanks for all the awesome videos Paul...you are still making a big difference at 71 and looking young! What does your son think of active crossovers, time alignment...?

It's like a jungle out there sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.--Grand Master Flash

The studios don't produce music of high quality anymore

I think the writer of that letter is looking back at those days with rose colored glasses. I worked in the audio industry for many of those years(for manufacturers and in retail) and saw firsthand some of the junk that was being foisted on the consumers back then. Speakers, in particular, were a huge crap shoot. Many of the smaller companies would produce stuff that sounded good, but was almost impossible to drive, or was so delicate that the mere drop of a stylus on the record would pop a woofer. Electronics was all over the map too. Solid state gear still had to catch up on the sound quality scale, and tube gear had nearly disappeared except for Audio Research gear. And that stuff.....never mind. Today's choice of amplification is huge at all price levels, and a good chunk of it sounds really good. A well engineered pair of really good sounding speakers can be had today for under $1000, with sound quality that was unachievable from all but the most expensive stuff from the '70s. The biggest problem is that there's no good way to really audition anything. Show demos tend to sound lousy, and Bricks and Mortar stores have all but disappeared. The internet has been brutal on retail stores in general, and high end audio is one of those areas where expert after sales assistance is often necessary. Hard to get that from an online seller.

Most of those that ask a lot from an expensive hi-fi system don't bother too much to think of the listening room. I made this mistake, spending almost 10k euros and expected awsome results no matter what. I ended up by being disapointed but only until i listened to them in a proper room. I was simply amazed by the difference.

I also had the jaw dropping experience with the Mark Levinson ML-2 amps with the ML-1 preamp, but with Magnapan Tympany IV speakers. That experience was so powerful, that when I finally discovered just recently that they could power my Sound Lab speakers, (they put out 25 watts, I thought I needed at least 100), I bought a pair. They still have the same magic they had in 1978, my electrostatics have never sounded better. They were the world's most expensive amplifiers at the time, the equivalent of $25,000 now, and I couldn't afford them. They would not be considered particularly expensive today. On the affordable side however, things have never been better.

I consider myself extremely lucky to have been a young person during that era and am especially grateful that my dad got me hooked on audio.

I'd love to know what all that equipment on the shelves is. A video perhaps?

They started adding more zeros to the price of their gold bezeled products with limited change in sound quality.

I dunno, back then lots of terrible speakers were kicking around too. And these days, sure there some stinkers, but there's a lot of quality people making quality gear. You can also get some really nice sounding gear for not that much too. I get nostalgia, but I'd take audio in 2019 vs 1960/70. ;)

Very good perspective on the current state of audio equipment. As an audio equipment enthusiast myself for decades, I'd like to know how tough would it be for a top Japanese manufacturer to produce a current equivalent version of a Sony STR-V7, a Sansui 9090, a Pioneer SX-1980, a Technics SA-1000, etc., equipment that was produced over 40 years ago. These were all incredibly engineered pieces of equipment. Obviously, they would be quite costly to produce today, but im sure there would be long waiting list ordering one of these today! Yamaha does come the closest to this level in there S Series integrated amps, which is reflected in the price. Interested to hear other enthusiasts perspectives on this.

It's beyond audio, you such a honest and wise man, such nice person to talk to .

Extremely well said! Paul is an amazing speaker, he makes things so easy to understand.

I feel like at one of my past audio systems I was very satisfied and yet over the years I’ve upgraded again and again, and it feels like I’m not enjoying music any more I’m just finding myself analyzing all the time and I believe that’s what high end audio do to you, I really miss my quad 57 with marantz 8b back in the days it was all about the music.

There is plenty of excellent, affordable modern gear out there, the problem is that it takes a lot of time and effort to determine what works well together. Long gone are the days when you could walk into a hifi store with relatively little knowledge and ask them to put together a system with good synergy that meets a certain price point. Nowadays it requires reading reviews, talking to people in forums, connecting with local enthusiasts, and a fair amount of admittedly expensive trial and error to get things right.

I agree that there is a bright future. I appreciate the high end audiophiles, but am more of a practical / economical listener. The world changed for people like me in 1985, when we bought our first CD player and could justify purchasing the elements of a good component stereo system because there was a silent background (no needle on vinyl records), no variance from warped records, and no degradation of quality after repeated playing of the media. Great quality became affordable to everyone, and that is a wonderful development.

You put me a great ease by saying all that, and I wasn’t event too worried to begin with. Thank you, Paul. You are one good egg.

I have a pioneer from 1981, the sa 9800. I myself have also built a few "voigt speakers. This design comes from 1931. It is equipped with 8" Full-Range driver with tang bang. And it sounds incredibly musical. And didn't spend more than 800 euros on it. So hige end can certainly be cheaper.

The "whatever happened to high end audio" question has been asked every year for more than 30 years for my ears. I remember subscribing to Stereophile in 1987. The occasional debate THEN from readers was "whatever happened to high end audio?" I've been hearing that question ever since. It seems the golden age for high end was the 40s and 50s, and starting with the 60s I guess it has become the eternal question. Ah, the "good ole days."

I think the real Innovation in sound quality happened in the 70's. That's when the big manufacturers were competing hardest to outdo each other. Sure, speakers have improved significantly but as far as amplification is concerned, specs have not improved in leaps and bounds, only the quality of the transistors, capacitors etc have improved. For example. how do we get distortion levels any lower and get a big improvement in sound quality. THD levels of some of the better gear from the late 70's and early 80's was as low as .0001%. I feel like all manufacturers have done since then is try to reinvent the wheel. Sure, We have new technologies such as class D etc but our hearing limitations are a big factor as to why we are unable to make improvements in sound quality that "WOW!" us. The 70's really were the Golden Ages in the respect that we nearly reached the pinnacle in audio innovation. That's my opinion. I welcome yours.

I'm so glad I got the Magnat Vintage 5 speakers for a really cheap price. Except the dipoles. Don't have those

Paul, the AN's you unveiled at Axpona sounded very, very good. I didn't want to leave your room to be honest. They were the best speakers I heard there followed by the Goldenear's next door to you.

Hi end audio still has some awesome equipment out there if one can afford it , like moon products, were do u get 10 year warranty now days not many do besides a few companies.

Room treatment seems to add a warmer tone and more focused sound that takes the harshness out of digital.

oddly enough on newer music, I find a lot of more indie recording efforts can actually produce better sounding mixes/mastering than the stuff that comes out on the big three. just a thought for y'all that people actually prefer this. also with newer equipment, if you know where you to look you can get a lot further on a budget. If people cared enough to spend a couple of hundred, everyone could have access to really decent audio.

Have a Happy Birthday!!

IMHO... One of the biggest factors I have noticed that affect the quality of music, is the quality of the recording. How it was mastered. Modern music is afflicted with this inconsistent variable lucky dip. Often times, the same song found on different albums will yield variations between each CD. The loudness wars haven't helped in this regard. Recordings for the masses, with their infinite variations in audio equipment being used, have muddied the quality being delivered from the record labels. There really needs to be some consensus in achieving a high standard from all music producers. To bring back quality, high fidelity, high dynamic range in their offerings. A renewed focus on quality would actually provide more incentive for consumers to look for higher quality audio equipment that would take advantage of it. We have seen growth in the visual, home theater industry due to consumer demand for the latest high resolution, multiple surround sound technology. This is the wave that the high end audio industry should be riding. I have always wondered why the audio / music industry haven't been pushing the drive for surround sound or quadraphonic recordings & systems. Bit like driving a car with only the front speakers playing.

Mark Levinson is producing audio again. Daniel Hertz Audio. He lives in Venice Italy.

I hear new systems and they still have coloration problems just like the old days. My system is from about 1980 and I don't plan on changing anything until I hear something better. I get incredible bass from my system but it might not be as open as it used to be but I'm in a different room. We only have one remaining stereo store and the owner is a friend of mine and he's talking about getting out of the business.

The buying experience has gone the way to buying online without auditioning the equipment. Used to be High End stores around with knowledgable staff to help. I was worked as an audiophile sales person. Hardly find a hifi shop these days.

The questioner may as well be talking about the recording industry and doesn't realise it. Any 'proper' hifi will majorly accurately portray what is on the media it's playing and if what's on the media has been poorly recorded, mastered etc then that's how it will sound on a 'proper' hifi. How it will sound via earbuds is another matter. In my personal experience, almost zero recordings sound like the 'real thing'. You can never mistake the sound of a real band or instrument with vinyl, CD or cassette. It just doesn't happen and that's in part down to speakers, as they're the furthest from being able to accurately reproduce signals without colouring them and to the recording and mastering process. Record/music producers have a choice. Do they produce music for the overwhelming majority who listen via their phones or streaming via their computers to listen via earbuds or airplay pod speakers or do they produce music for the tiny, insignificant amount of 'audiophiles' who make up a fraction of a fraction of a fraction etc of all music users? It's no competition. The music industry goes for the biggest market by far and produces the music in a way that sounds best on compromised machinery., You can't create an album to sound good on ear buds and even begin to hope it's going to sound as good through a hifi system with full range speakers. It aint possible.

Perhaps people have gotten wise to how severely the law of diminishing returns applies to home stereo sound reproduction -- and to the fact that the audible advantages of spending anything beyond four figures on audio gear are nearly impossible to quantify, let alone describe without resorting to ultra-subjective terminology tantamount what one hears at a lifted-pinky wine tasting.

Great Paul, thanks.... a further problem are the amazing audiophile quality yet low priced products coming from Chinese brands and OEM manufacturers who are making them for international brands, including Sonus Faber, Magnat, Vincent. So, for example. Edifier and HiVi Swans speakers first come to mind. For around $500 you get bookshelf/standmount audiophile quality sound including gorgeous cabinetry, with superb digital amplification/DAC built in. that's where hi end audio went, downstream to where the expensive esoteric stuff isn't worth it unless you're simply a rich collector. And don't get me wrong, that's great! But the reality is that at the $1500 and $5000 price points for a system, you can now buy 90% of what a $30,000 system will produce. In fact, costs to produce audiophile quality have come down, not gone up. Hi end is for rich people, fine, great, but the actual musical performance differences are less and less. I listened side by side to a pair of JBL Array $11,000 / pr , yes extremely amazing and expensive, yet next to the JBL 530 standmounters we recommend at medium volume level, there is no appreciable important sound difference except for a higher volume of bass output, which if you are listening to an acoustic jazz trio doesn't even matter. See the problem? Look here at the Insane World of Guangzhou Audio Markets and you see for yourself kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n62imLxpx7uzoHk.html Cheers, Mario

What does live sound like? Just curious, since almost all "live" music today is carried digitally...

The last good quality amplifier I bought is the Creek evolution2 for 750 pounds from 2011 wonderful amplifier and the cd player 730 pounds

Modern equipment is high definition and revealing of recording quality. Play a great recording on it and it sounds great. Most modern recordings are simply not good enough. End of.

Part of it is also the way music is made these days. Anything modern is designed to be listened to on cheap beats and apple headphones because thats what everyone uses. I see it in college everyday. 60% of college students use airpods or something similar in sound quality/reproduction

when i was a kid in the 60s we had a Ford where the center part of the back window rolled down. no seat belts. kids were getting ping ponged out the back window in accidents. or just through playing around and falling out.

I take this angle. Technology has dropped the price of everything. Home computers were 5 grand in the early 80's. Todays cheapest smart phones blow them out of the water. Todays inexpensive to mid range gear has decades of R and D behind it and massively improved tech. You can easily get 80% of the best sound for well under a grand. Lux watches are a good comparison as well. Hand crafted mechanical watches have their place, but a simple digital does more and keeps time much more accurately. Seems to be a question of perception and the "luxury" market. Fun stuff though

It is kind of a crazy time. Parts of the industry seem crazy both with product and pricing, and the time horizon for digital products seem really short and predisposed to create a culture of disposability. Meaning the so called improvements happen so fast that the newest digital products, interfaces, protocols make older products obsolete in a way that analog audio never did. At the same time there are better sounding affordable products in the market place and it's not difficult to get very good sound on a real person's budget if great sound is your goal. On the other hand the disposability aspects makes cheap bad sounding products available in abundance you need to be able to sort through that stuff.

I’m from South Australia, and over the past 25 years I have seen a lot of changes happen. One very sad change I have seen, is that the Automotive industry is now pretty much dead in Australia. First Mitsubishi shut down its production in Adelaide, then Ford in Victoria, then again GM Holden here in Elizabeth, not far from where I live in Adelaide just last year. Very sad times, many people losing their jobs and a part of Australia’s proud history has disappeared forever. As far as audio goes to me, I have noticed 2ch audio quality had started to slip, when people were starting to become more interested in home theatre sound, Dolby Digital, DTS ect. All of a sudden 2ch HiFi didn’t matter as much in budget audio anymore. My 7.1ch Yamaha HDMI receiver is great for movies and gaming, but does not serve very well as 2ch HiFi for music. It just doesn’t have the same warm feeling that my old Technics system used to give me.

LOL!.. everything looked and sounded "better" when we were young.. My eyesight, let alone my hearing, were at another level which, made my brain process sights and sounds in a much more satisfying way. ..yet, I will admit, the introduction of digital formats changed the music reproduction dramatically. That is why (in my view), so many people are going back to vinyl sources and the analogue 'sound' reproduction of music. It's a return to the sound that Betty is nostalgic about.

Who makes those bookcases?

Idont know what high end was costing back in the day but I just came back from Munich high end 2019 and I assure you that high end is alive and well. I was a bit surprised that the top of the top was the majority of the expositions. Alternativly, Low beats magazine was using some concept 40s as part of a roon demonstration and they sounded like thousands of dollars worth of speaker. 95 percent of other speakers there I think we're over 5k and may be 20 pct over 100k. This is just my estimation...

"Change" is the only constant. I'm surprised more people don't realize this. 'nuff said,

Apogees (Jason Bloom). They still sound good. Cary still makes killer stuff. Dennis didn’t care about price points. Vintage stuff is bowing up.

Many years ago a UK speaker manufacturer put classical musicians on stage and half way through they stopped playing and the music came from the speakers. The audience didn't notice the change. Yet the same company "upgraded" their speakers regularly ever since. Everybody still says their products are perfect, then finds a way to "improve" them next year. Have ears got better?

That outro was borderline ASMR.

Paul, you did watch the BBC documentary "Microbes and Men" from 1974, right? I watched it too, in the 1980s here in Brazil.

We are living in the era of great cost benefit. Swan and Edifier both offer great affordable active speakers. Headphones are better than they ever be, with affordable dacs and amps. It's all about research and getting good info.

What i notice is a steep rise in price ; the new kef ref on metanow is 9000, the old 202/2's were 5000 go figure....the new style is somewhat more detailed, but i dont especially dig that asit gets tiring after awhile...

Not too be cruel, but if you were old enough in the 70s to appreciate a good system, you may not have the ears to appreciate one in 2020.

The main 'modern' issue with high end audio is kinda obvious: loudness wars. Has nothing to do with change; I've been born way after the loudness wars began.

I like the present of high-end audio and have faith on its future. For one it is much easier and affordable to have a high performing system. Luxurious high end gear doesn’t automatically translate into a good sonic experience. I think we are in an era of practical high-end audio.

Speakers and electronics have improved a lot in the past thirty years. The letter writer might want the old (nostalgic) sound which had been substituted by a higher fidelity, more neutral and revealing sound found in modern hi-end gears.

Arnie Nudell passed away a few years ago?? So which Arnie Nudell passed away a few months ago?

Nowadays components are better and cheaper, and DSP is powerful and available to the masses. There's really no justification in buying overpriced components. It's really just a nirvana that manufacturers keep selling, and unfortunately most people buy it.

This has been bantered about much on the Net. We were even talking about that phenomena of your first listening experience in 'hifi', or at least something close to it. I made the comment that I haven't been really overly impressed with anyone's system since that first 'hifi' saturation experience. I'm sure however, that I could walk into Paul's showroom and be completely blown away. But my point is that I haven't been astounded by anyone's home system for decades, especially as they morphed into HT and less about just stereo. You could argue that the people with $100,00+ systems wouldn't usually invite me into their homes. OK well...whose fault is that, mine or theirs? So we're back to the showroom presentation again. I just don't like going into a high-end showroom unless I'm prepared to buy.....that's what it boils down to for me anyway. So I wonder if the person who posed the question of 'hif' dying out has really been to some seriously dedicated 'hifi' showrooms recently? If not, they should venture to PS Audio at least.......

I agree with Paul about resistance to change as i see this every day. Some people can't even shift from Windows 7 to 10. We all have to move on. The difficulty when living in the present is determining the genuine improvements from the bogus, superficial or even non-existent ones. With that in mind high-end manufacturers have a lot of explaining to do. Questions like; - Why so many boxes when things can be included in just one? Why are some components so expensive when what's in the case is relatively basic. Maybe they think they're like drug companies. Ultimately, you might learn a lot when you hear what they use to demonstrate their equipment and where. In the case of PS Audio I believe Paul when he says they have their heart in the right place but I remain a little sceptical over elements such as their power conditioning products. If this is necessary then a) why is it so expensive and b) why not build it as standard into all their equipment.

Well put Paul. Thank you

With the rise in turntable popularity, why don’t integrated amps with phono stages have subsonic filter switches? I won’t even use a preamp that doesn’t have one . So useful and convenient.

old "Schiit".... I like that.... The price is what is killing high end audio. Even when I didn't make much money, top AR, CJ, etc were not that far out of reach expect the Infinity IRS. Speaker cables and interconnects were not priced into the craziness stratosphere. Yes, there is budget audio, and it's very good. But the IRS were $20k..... you have Magico with $600k horn speakers and lots of speakers in the $200k plus category that appeal to the 1%. I stopped buy gear many many years ago. To "upgrade" what I have will cost thousands more than I am willing to spend. The "high" in high end means high money.

Things went really hard and bright during the 90's and never calmed down. Not easy finding stuff that's pleasant and soothing to the ear anymore.

Paul your going off on a tangent lol. The subject is hi fi lol. I have been in this industry since the early 80's selling, designing and calibrating the very best in high end audio. No doubt the industry has changed and in a number of ways. One many of the original designers of high end audio were avid music lovers themselves. They designed and tuned there equipment to sound musical. Musicality was the priority, not ultra detail like many manufacturers are after today. Equipment and manufactures have changed there priorities over the years and more detail became the goal. Some manufactures are also trying to achieve neutrality which honestly can sound sterile and involving. Also I think many of the dealers either dont have the knowledge or experience to design systems that are both musical, and detailed. A very tough thing to achieve, its a fine line. Challenging to have detail and musicality in a system especially if you dont know how to combine speakers and equipment that create that balance. So the bottom line, is i think many manufactures today are trying to design equipment that is ultra detailed but cross that line and compromise musicality. Plus I think there are few people in the industry who know how to design and setup a system properly. There is some great equipment out there today, its learning and playing with speakers and equipment to create that sound your after. So you can go to dealers and listen to their systems and that will tell you if their systems sound like music and to your liking. if so then follow their lead on helping you design a system for you. Otherwise your going to have to play with equipment to get the sound your after. Most dealers will allow you take equipment home to try in your system. Kevin 40 years high end audio video specialist facebook.com/latourhighendaudio/

Nowadays any functioning computer (including tablets and smartphones) is a perfectly adequate source. DACs achieved audible transparency years ago and most devices have audibly transparent DACs. You don't need to spend much to get a transparent amp and system speakers are the future which allows you to dump most of the boxes. Good audio gear has been commoditised, I don't see that as a bad thing.

The sound quality you get for half a month wages now, is way better then in the seventies. For those who are never satisfied, there is a big money pit called high end. The building quality has indeed deteriorated, machines aren't made to last decades anymore.

Maybe it's most on speakers; But I think you will have to pay a lot for hand crafted and tuned speakers these days.Back in the old days that was more of the norm.

I am here to say the audiophile hobby is alive and well - in the DIY world.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clarke BRING ON THE *MAGIC* !!! 😎👍🏻

Ever since the mp3 era and just before it started going downhill in quality. Too much audio compression causing artifacts in sound. There was a point I would no longer use headphones because the audio quality was so horrible. Lately there seems to be some light In the horizon but there is just way too much music out there horribly mixed and mastered.

Paul... brilliant commentary. From Cambridge Audio to Schiit Audio many are making amazing stuff. Change is great. Old cars suck. Old TVs suck. If you take the time there are a lot of really great companies who make great stuff out there. The line between elite high end and affordable has become closer.

I agree with this question 100% For example, since the Sennheiser HD 540 Ref 1 I haven't heard a good headphone from them. Very sad - super clean un-natural and super over priced ):

Bam! Betty gives it both barrels! I take your points, Paul, but there's change for the better and there's change for change's sake. It does seem that it's much easier for newer manufacturers to just make equipment play louder than to go through all the hassle of ironing out sonic coloration in the circuitry and drivers. Then they can stick it in a fancy box and call it high-end. Of course, back in the days when every town had audio dealers on the high street, it was a lot easier to listen to gear and hear for yourself what sounded good or bad. I applaud PS Audio for offering customers a home trial, but even then it's only comparing the new item with an existing one, rather than auditioning a range of equipment. Ultimately, I suspect we're now in a place where many people's definition of great sound quality is "I paid X thousand for this, therefore it must be good."

There will always be experts and those within the hierarchy, even some company owners, whose heart is in the right place. You'll also have conglomorates, business, investors and accountants driving another angle. On the gear side ... You'll always have analog purists and vintage fanciers. I don't think it's too far away that 'purist Audiophiles' will accept emerging technologies e.g, Roon (DSP), Meridian (MQA), Dirac (Room Correction). Even Bluetooth will make strides.

Paul's life lessons advice is as good as his audio advice. He sees the big picture.

Apple's *$3 billion* purchase of Beats indicates where the kids are at. For now? To quote Meghan Trainor, it's "All About That Bass." They are seeking the same thing that high-end audio enthusiasts (HAEs) are after. It's a feeling. For HAEs, it's the feeling of being in the best seats in the concert hall or in the front row listening to their favourite bands. People who grew up "In Da Club" and going to EDM and rap/hiphop shows want to feel the heart-palpitating *four-on-the-floor* beats. I was one of those bass heads. After I started learning to sing, play instruments and record music, I found myself gravitating to high-end audio because I knew I wasn't hearing what was supposed to be there. We can complain all we want about lossy music formats, but the truth is people will not invest if they don't know or care about the experiences that they are missing. Finally, let's not skirt around the obvious. High-end audio is a *luxury good!* No one needs an audiophile system costing tens- or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The luxuries of one generation are the relics of another. There's no way that in-home audiophile gear can compete with a $500 pair of Beats cans. If decision-makers in the industry took off their engineering caps once in a while, they'd find a lot of new opportunities in a hurry. This is not a scientific result, but from what I can tell, the vast majority of audiophiles (myself included) have analytical backgrounds. This includes education and training in science, technology, engineering (of course), and mathematics. What percentage of the population does this represent? The good news is that a subtle shift to communicating in terms of "why" not "what" can start a transformation. Looking at the lifecycle customers can generate cradle-to-grave relationships. Maybe a better way to say this is, make products to nurture the market. The PS Audio Sprout seems like a shot at reaching out to a demographic that's not at a point in their lives where they are ready, willing, or capable of going all-in on an audiophile system. Of course, with things the way they are, too many not-so-young people are still living with their parents, roommates, or "affordable" apartments (read as small and very expensive). The solutions for this one are not really within the scope of the audio industry. But it's necessary to recognize its place when answering, "What the hell happened to high-end audio?"

You didn't really address the matter of the question IMO. The letter describes the same thing I see also in the business. High-end audio has changed (in general) more to bling bling casings and selling stories. I cringe when I have a look inside much audio gear. Many things brought to us as improvement has been only about cost reduction. There is really something going on which you didn't speak out. It is part of the much broader economic spectrum: we are led to believe we still have buying power, there is not a lot of inflation, but it is only hidden in the fact that everything gets worse, not better: the food, the cars to name some. Keep denying and telling fairy stories, I see with my own eyes what is happening.

Wow amazing ur the best Paul.

I feel like i have never heard proper audio

Hi end audio died when the Compact Disk arrived in 1982.

Some of the newer speaker companies now like elac and flusnce make some really good speakers at a reasonable price that are a lot better than what I could have bought for the same amount of money 30 years ago plus I have a little cheap about $40 class D amplifier then I use at my desk with a built-in deck that sounds three times better than my pioneer receiver that I bought in 78 things are changing but I think for the better

I thought the question was based around the production high quality music? Not the gear its played on? I even watched this twice and took away the same belief. ??

Why the statement that the goal of high end audio is to reproduce live sound? I don't think it is, nor that it should be.

Best recreation of music today: Steinway-Lyngdorf & Klinger Favre & Daniel Hertz.

I think a lot of older people who try to compare modern hi-fi equipment with what they remember from their youth fail to recognize that their hearing has degraded over the years. It is subtle but everyone suffers this loss.

Exactly, this is all about change. For me, high end audio has never been better. Man, u can get some great stuff, innovative stuff. I have a Sprout on my desk and...good grief!! That thing is SPECTACULAR!! On my DESK! And I cringe when someone says ‘boy they don’t make cars like they used to’, ya thank god. A lot of this is nostalgia is loving the things I grew up with many yrs ago, IMO

do you know how many lives are saved if we ban , for example , bungee jumping ? or say , driving more than 40 km/hour ? the formula is not " do it if it saves lives " it is more complex than that .

If you want the cleanest, flattest and purest sound, One word..... GENELEC!

Shitty recordings are definitely part of the answer. Especially with non-acoustic music genres. I was listening to JBL 4367 powered by Lewinsons at Toronto audiophile show (after hours, when all the grey-haired audiophile geezers left). We were playing Metal. Out of two modern recordings, one (Rammstein's latest) was dynamic and 3D and the other recording (one newer Megadeth album) was flat, distant, seemed coming out of the next room. Perhaps the issue is the recordings, not the speakers.

Embrace change... That's part of life.

Yes. Looks promising.

The problem has always been laziness or lack of interest on peoples behalf, everyone just wanting the fastest and easiest way around, nobody wants the hassle of researching and learning about the hobby. Prices have pretty much stayed the same, it's just that now we have all this luxury gear that didn't exist before. There are many companies at the moment that offer you components that sound as good as others worth 3-5-10 times more.. Leave the uber expensive stuff to the people that can afford it knowing that you can destroy their systems for a tenth of the price! Easy!

High end audio is changing because most of the music people listen to is digital, digitally created, loud, heavily compressed, and bass dominant, and consumers expect a system capable and tuned to this in a convenient and Apple-style package. The notion of a system that reproduces the sound of live music is becoming a foreign concept as much live music today is becoming more like recorded music, run through digital mixers with plugin effects and heavy processing on every channel, and few people go to hear a chamber orchestra.

Happened that people just woke up. And consumer grade audio gear become pretty decent at afordable prices..so..fuck hi end porno prices. It was just time...