How large (or small) is the audiophile market?

My perception mirrors @oddiofyl .

I have a single friend who actually spends money on high-end gear. I don't know anyone else who does. In high school I was the only person who had a component system. Same thing in college. Almost the same thing in dental school. I knew a couple of people who actually had a nice system. Decades later I know only one other person who cares about audio and has a high-end system.

When I am asked about hobbies or interests all I get is a blank stare after I respond "Listening to music in a dedicated listening room".

I do have a few friends who like coming over to hear my system, but they are unwilling to invest in good gear for themselves.

Definitely a lonely hobby.

It's only Rock n Roll, but I like it, like it, yes I do.

Outdated audiophile brands have always been a clueless bunch ---> no idea how to tap into the vast numbers of the world’s unidentified ’audiophiles".

For example, Sony has been selling its XM5 Bluetooth headphones like hot cakes. Any young person who bought it and said "Omg, I am hearing things in very familiar songs that i have never heard before" is a bonafide audiophile. Such a person will be able to identify tiers of improvements in sound quality, if exposed to gear and will buy it if within financial reach.

A sizable majority of the younger hometheater-ing dudes are audiophiles. But, they seem to despise the word and will never say it....probably has a lot to do with the lousy personalities who’ve propped themselves up as the face of audiophilia.

The only real audiophiles i knew are dead...

They played with the gear pieces never were really concerned and never studied acoustics...

I am the only real audiophile i knew now, i used a dedicated room, and i studied how to makes it  holographic with basic gear because i could not enter the upgrades race. My budget lack was my luck but i did not knew at the times....

I succeeded but it takes me 2 years full time to understand how to do it at no cost...

Most people called audiophiles here  buy gear pieces without end on a race to upgrade the sound...

Gear matter for sure...

But  acoustics matter way more  than the choice between  relatively good basic pieces of gear...

Most dont want to know this simple truth, because they dont have a room  dedicated only to audio, they dont have the time to study acoustics... And a dedicated acoustics room done by a pro cost more than a high end system anyway...

What is an audiophile?

It is a fool with money who buy gear pieces  one after the other or a fool with no money ready to have fun in a dedicated room whose hobby is acoustics (me)...

There is rare people with unlimited budget spending money on room and gear....

They dont buy quartz to ground their gear homemade.... They bought costlier product...

@tomcy6 - true, but are there any print publications  whose subscriber base is not shrinking? They are not much of a thing anymore. I remember when most of the people in my apartment building would get the daily paper delivered. Now I'm the only one. I've seen a number of print publications go down since the Pandemic, like the music magazine 'Q' (sister publication to Mojo, if that's even there anymore). You can bet there are many, many more who read these publications online. 

@larsman  my point exactly. The market for any print magazine is rapidly shrinking, much less very fine focused and genre specific magazines. I’m surprised you’re still 12,000 or some odd subscribers at this stage. Me included of course.

To address the op’s, as a teacher/professor for several decades I have known thousands of young people and so my first students are now hitting their forties. I can count maybe on two or three hands and number who’ve actively expressed interest in traditional audio file sound. In fact I was very happy to help two of my high school seniors get set up with decent vinyl playback rigs. One of them just wanted to get rid of her ancient receiver and get powered speakers so I helped her out by donating one of my unused phono stages, Darlington, which really changed the way she listened to music. The other guy I helped by installing one of my unused mm cartridges, a decent grado, which made him incredibly happy as he reported he was hearing the music like he never heard before. But most people under the age of 35 for the most part- I know I’m making a sweeping generalization here- are concerned more about the economics and Mobility factors then fidelity.

Plus, just look at how many more entertainment options are available to people under 30 as compared to Gen X or boomers. It's not just a radio TV and cable, it's everything else and that everything else is much more Interactive and offers A Narrative of sorts. Some of the music my students report listening to most oddly enough is actually game soundtracks.