Too much doom and gloom. What happened to OPPO is just a symptom. Weren't they actually the last DVD player manufacturer that did not offer things like "Streaming", and "Apps" other than a remote? None of that and no new innovations? And they were how much??
I knew Oppo was doomed when my friends kid wanted to know why he couldn't use it to listen to "Spotify" while watching "The Lion King", on the screen. He wanted to hear the, "Big, Giant Speakers"
Most high end audio is seen by the youth of today as unreachable. While the small area specific storefronts have all but disappeared. The youth have no way to listen to anything beyond what is available at the box stores and they, "Big Box", have nothing ever set up that you can actually hear the difference in. The audio market is simply evolving just as everything else is, has and always will.
The "Audiophile" isn't born that way. And it's up to the market to decide what it wants. All that I see is an vast and largely untapped market that everyone here seems to think is unreachable. The people seem to think that the gear is gone that they can afford. And I think they are right. I haven't heard a set of speakers where the masses shop that sounded as though the set was worth anything even near the asking price. And I've looked. Trying to read the market.
I believe that it's the industry that has let itself become alienated from most people and especially the young.
Why is the music still mixed in "just" stereo? Why isn't there 11.2 channel mixed music to download so that I can use my $1500 "State of the ART", surround system with? You still have CD's???
BEFORE, you all attempt to clobber me to death at once......
Those are questions I've been asked recently. And I listed those particular questions because each has been asked of me more than once in the last two months. Stereo isn't dead, it has simply become too stuffy.
So it's "Lead, Follow or get the %$@ out of the way", for the industry I think.
But what do I know? .....
I do happen to own a fledgling audio company that's doing quite well currently. And by the way, I LOVE my Oppo, UDP-205...........
