2. misc-audio
  3. 135539-76532

High End is Dead?

Browsing used audio sites such as Audiogon and the Marts, high end gear ads are dominated by several dealers. Non-dealer ads are usually people trying to push 15+ year old off-brand junk at 60-70% of MSRP (when they were new). They don't sell anything. You could slash Wilsons, Magicos, etc, 50% off retail and no one will buy them.

No one buys if it costs more than 1k. It's not that they're not interested -- the ads get plenty of views. It's that the asking prices are just way over the ability of buyers to pay. Fact is, if you see a high end piece for sale it's probably by a dealer, often times trying to push it at 15% off retail because its a trade in, but also often they are taking a good chunk off the price 30, 40 sometimes 50% off. They can be famous brands with a million positive reviews. No buyers.

Are we just poor, and that's all there is to it? 
madavid0

Showing 6 responses by madavid0

madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Okay, how many pieces of high end have you sold / bought? Recently?
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
How many people at AXPONA are buying? I bet you very few will buy anything above a few thousand dollars.
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Then why are the large majority of ads for this gear by dealers -- usually the SAME dealers over and over again?
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Anyone who says high end is changing to personal audio is just saying that the high end is dead. Cell phones sound like CRAP. Modern pop music is TRASH. I have a pretty good portable player and it merely sucks LESS.

Meanwhile I have a Technics network integrated up for 50% retail -- not a SINGLE response, even to tire-kick or to lowball. Is $2k a bridge too far? SAD!
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Most of ads on Audiogon is for old and/or off-brand gear for less than $1000. Wilsons and Magicos are a tiny minority of listings and they're all from dealers. In reality no one is buying high end. I went to AXPONA this year, and I didn't see many (any?) people discussing a purchase with the dealers -- come in, listen for a minute, than leave with a pamphlet.



madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
My view of Millennial and Gen Z types around the internet such as Reddit and Massdrop is that there IS an interest in audiophile audio, but they are actively antagonistic towards high-end audio. So the interest in better audio is there but they have a hard stop at spending significant sums of money. It seems like a groupthink exercise in defining reality in terms that is beneficial for them. For example they will state that one DAC sounds no different than another, or if there are differences they are minor. If challenged to visit an audio dealer or a hi-fi show they will respond they don’t need to because it’s all snake-oil.

At first glance it seems like the simply don’t want to believe that better quality gear produces better audio, but that’s also not true; they do accept that better quality gear provides better audio, but that only goes as far as a few hundred dollars. So it seems they actually do believe in high-end audio, only that the high-end must include everyone on the internet’s ability to pay for it. A very self-serving community view.
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