Is Audiophilia a Dying Hobby or Just in Need of a Tune-Up?

[PeterA]

Headphones show me how much tactile quality exists in a room pressurized by music. It just "feels" a wee bit sterile to me. But it doesn't disturb my dear wife in the mornings!

“Sterile” is a great way to describe it.

 

[PYP]

I like headphones on occasion, but I always miss the spatial aspects of the presentation and the impact and the sense of presence and mass that you get from a really good system with speakers.

yes, the lack of visceral impact which live music has. Also, I never found them comfortable.

 

[tima]

I wonder if Bonzo has any videos of this future of high-end.

I’m not poking Bonzo. I’m just pointing out that his often excellent videos never show anyone listening to headphones.

Videos of systems with no speakers?
in Jon Lovitz voice: "Yeah ... that's the ticket."

But I can't find the headphone jack on my Lamm preamp.

 

[PeterA]

Videos of systems with no speakers?
in Jon Lovitz voice: "Yeah ... that's the ticket."

But I can't find the headphone jack on my Lamm preamp.

I can’t find that headphone jack in my system either Tim. You will need to buy a separate headphone amplifier that can be driven by your preamp. It will have a headphone jack but not speaker binding posts. I think the future will be quiet.

 

[microstrip]

I can’t find that headphone jack in my system either Tim. You will need to buy a separate headphone amplifier that can be driven by your preamp. It will have a headphone jack but not speaker binding posts. I think the future will be quiet.

You just need a RCA to headphone adapter as the LL1 preamplfier has 200 ohms output impedance and output high enough to drive many headphones.
For example some excellent Beyerdynamic headphones are available with 600 ohm impedance.

 

[prerich]

How do they say it on the Colonial Penn commercial? Price, price, and price. Young people are not afraid to spend over $1k for a phone, but gear - for a singular purpose, unless brought up in the hobby (like my son), I don't see it. The one hope we have is coming from China. Yes, China is making some great gear, inexpensively. I just recently looked at upgrading my prepro and I can't get myself to pull the trigger! I look at prices and I'm just waiting until a McIntosh MX123 or MX170 gets into my "worth the price" range.
There are many that love audio and the gear that it's played on, but entry into that realm still cost.

 

[ozy]

Our hobby is certainly dying….. obscene inflated prices, scrupulous dealers, mafia like tactics and aging true audiophiles will usher the end of audiophillia.

 

[microstrip]

Our hobby is certainly dying….

Fortunately we have data that says the opposite. All market trends show OI could see show that the global market is forecast to grow. But it is evolving, and the landscape is changing. Don't expect it to be like it was ten years ago.

obscene inflated prices, scrupulous dealers, mafia like tactics and aging true audiophiles will usher the end of audiophillia.

Being an hobby, any one can consider any prices obscene. And yes we can't stop the clock. My personnel idea is that the industry already felt the need for a change a few years ago and is doing it silently, but does not want to kill the existing model while it is profitable. Surely the current global economics model has helped for some excesses.