Why is there so much separation between the professional audio and audiophile worlds?

Remember the old “story” about putting ten (?) people in a straight line. Then, you whisper something in the ear of the first person and he whispers your comment into the ear of the second person who in turn whispers it to the third person and on and on..... By the time your comment reaches the tenth person it is a very different comment. This is analogous to what happens to music in the record/reproduce chain of events. Every step of the way to the home listener’s ear the sound loses some fidelity to the original event, no matter the quality of the gear (yes, even with “perfect” digital). As we all know there are many steps in this process.

**** What I’d like to know is: Why is pro gear better at putting sound onto media than home gear is at taking it off? ****

Is it? I’m not so sure. The way I see it, when “putting sound unto media” with pro gear, even if the pro gear happens to not be of quite the same high quality as the best audiophile gear, the sound is still a lot closer in fidelity to the original live event by virtue of the fact that it has endured far fewer “steps” of the total record/reproduce process. By the time the music is reproduced by the home gear (the tenth person) it has lost that much more fidelity. The better the home gear, the better it highlights just how much has been lost.

So here’s the thing.  5 years ago I had what most would call a pretty decent audio system.  McIntosh tube amplifiers, Willson speakers, great cables and connectors, a $10,000 turntable excellent CD player etc. When we moved to South America, I sold all of it.  When I returned to Canada, I purchased Paradigm 3F speakers, NAD 300 watt power amp and the NAD M10 Streamer AMP.  The total cost, $20,000 Canadian.  $80,000 lass than my previous system.  The difference in audio quality was less, but not by much.  Pro Audio is highly overrated.  I think quality streaming is the future of audio.

Well, if we are the 10th person in the line and so much of the music has been lost, then why we even bother with any hifi equipment! A phone with an ear bud should be enough or at most a system costs $1500 or less (a latest iphone + AirPod).

".... Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers."

Thanks, Billy.  A little self-exam is good on occasion.  That extra .0001% can cost lots, just to exhibit what some won't like and try to 'fix'.

Whether one can consider it an upwards or downwards spiral still depends on perspective anyway.  Oh, and budget of course.

Frankly, I'm still curious as to what my Walsh DIY redux would sound like with a SET.  But I'm not about to go cook a budget to find out...

Sound great to me with SS....but I am hopelessly biased....like anyone else you know.... ;)

We have to keep in mind that the final recording of the music is under the responsability of the artistik realizator/ director linked with the production company..

As a result the  technical task of the sound engineer is not free since he has to follow up realizator recommandation during recording, mastering and mix..
These step need accuracy and the final result of the sound has to respect artistic profile and marketing consideration...

So the audiophile is "alone," vs the professionnal as a result...

The example of the "loudness war" that higligth the" average power" vs the dynamic in the recording option...

Raymond