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I'd bet the average person under 30 hasn't purchased a serious home stereo system in the last five years.
And it's not because they don't like music. Quite the opposite, actually. The popularity of online streaming music sites, rise of music blogs, and skyrocketing digital music sales from places like iTunes, Wal-Mart.com, and Amazon.com show that young people are voracious music consumers.
But are they true audiophiles? No, at least not in the way people who came of age trying to find the perfect sound on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon were. They'd buy high-fidelity speakers and systems that play back music in a quality as close to the original performance as possible.
And why not? If you think about it, the equipment that has traditionally defined the audiophile is antithetical to the way we experience music today. Speakers are clunky and immobile, and expensive shelf systems don't play easily swappable digital files. Instead, stereo shopping nowadays often means picking up an iPod and a speaker dock. The combination is cheaper, mobile, convenient, and, for better or worse, cool.
The effect is that it's slowly killing an industry.
Adieu to the true audiophileI agree- I have a nice system set up and listen to music as well as movies,games,etc. Most younger folks I have met in the last few years may have a home hteater system but they listen to music at less than full fidelity. Listen to a piece of music at full fidelity via a good system and compare it to the same music that has been compressed- you will be amazed at some of the tones,notes, and range you have been missing. If you have access to a high range stereo shop nearby, ask them to play a piece at full fidelity and the same piece that has been compressed. I am one of those who listened to "Dark Side Of The Moon" on a high quality system. Nothing like it.