Is this hobby actually affordable, in any reasonable interpretation of the term “affordable”? Is high-end audio an intrinsically elitist luxury niche, populated exclusively by the 1% and those hoping to someday climb into such company? Or is there room for more interpretations of “good sound” that might actually appeal to those of us without a HELOC, a trust fund, or a secret tunnel into a conveniently neighboring bank vault?Īt the New York Audio Show back in September, I led a panel with Art Dudley of Stereophile, John Darko of Digital Audio Review and Steve Guttenberg of CNet’s The Audiophiliac, around the somewhat arbitrary topic of “ What’s Next: a 21st Century Audiophile“. Of course, all this brings up an interesting point. If I were in a confessing mood, I’d reveal that this truth has been … pounded … into my consciousness. What I will acknowledge is that even the price of one of those multi-thousand dollar components is way past what “normal people” spend on audio (or “art” generally) in total, and that it’s probably well past what most would-be audiophiles would spend, too. I’m not going to defend my taste, my income or my lifestyle other than to say that the pieces are what I thought best, at a time when I had the money to do something about it. While most do not, perhaps, reach as lofty as that $20k price point, some sail past. Looking at my own system, I note quite a few extremely expensive components.

The fact is, they published it and that means something.

You have to applaud Art’s sense of outrage: “I’m sorry, but an interconnect is not, under any conditions, worth as much as a new car.” It’s ballsy to see Stereophile take such a stance - even the views and opinions expressed in that piece are soley those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Stereophile, it’s parent company, it’s affiliates, or anyone else on Planet Earth. It’s an unsettling little piece, and done with assurance and authority by perhaps the most prestigious writer in today’s audiophile press. And while that feeling seems at odds with the stuff I read about in most mainstream mags, Art recently published an editorial called “ Skin Deep“, wherein he openly mocked the $20,000 price-anchor that the high-end seems to be pivoting around. I’ll admit that the prices in audio’s high-end have me more than a little uncomfortable. I would probably blow a raspberry at either suggestion.īut one topic that keeps coming back to me is the issue of affordability. You could also say that I have no sense of self-preservation. The value, purpose, and goals of education, the penal system, life in general. The proper view and use of Science or it’s tools. The role of morality, whether in the market or in personal life. Political discussions around the proper role of government.

Carver cm-1090 age