Millennials, Please Check In!
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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Hi maplegrovemusic!
Thank you for writing!
I'm not sure what negativity you feel the thread started off with, but we truly want to welcome Millenials to the hobby and to the forum!
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
Ron there are a very high number of millennial/Gen Z that are into good sound, but it is mostly on the headphones side as most of them are living in smaller spaces like college dorms or if they're working almost always preferring to live in large cities which means apartments.
I think Headfi is currently the most popular hifi forum by volume and a significant portion of people there would fall into those ages groups.
My opinion to get people attracted to hifi speakers is this route: headphones -> desktop speakers (which means speakers that sound good against a wall, not many exist) -> full on hifi.
The interest is there but I don't think going full on hifi is the right way since they'll not be able to afford it at their current age or have the space. But eventually most people have families and move to houses and if they have the bug, they have the bug and will then get serious with two channel.
Just my opinion
I think Headfi is currently the most popular hifi forum by volume and a significant portion of people there would fall into those ages groups.
My opinion to get people attracted to hifi speakers is this route: headphones -> desktop speakers (which means speakers that sound good against a wall, not many exist) -> full on hifi.
The interest is there but I don't think going full on hifi is the right way since they'll not be able to afford it at their current age or have the space. But eventually most people have families and move to houses and if they have the bug, they have the bug and will then get serious with two channel.
Just my opinion
Ron there are a very high number of millennial/Gen Z that are into good sound, but it is mostly on the headphones side as most of them are living in smaller spaces like college dorms or if they're working almost always preferring to live in large cities which means apartments.
I think Headfi is currently the most popular hifi forum by volume and a significant portion of people there would fall into those ages groups.
My opinion to get people attracted to hifi speakers is this route: headphones -> desktop speakers (which means speakers that sound good against a wall, not many exist) -> full on hifi.
The interest is there but I don't think going full on hifi is the right way since they'll not be able to afford it at their current age or have the space. But eventually most people have families and move to houses and if they have the bug, they have the bug and will then get serious with two channel.
Just my opinion
That all makes good sense to me! Thank you!
Ron there are a very high number of millennial/Gen Z that are into good sound, but it is mostly on the headphones side as most of them are living in smaller spaces like college dorms or if they're working almost always preferring to live in large cities which means apartments.
I think Headfi is currently the most popular hifi forum by volume and a significant portion of people there would fall into those ages groups.
My opinion to get people attracted to hifi speakers is this route: headphones -> desktop speakers (which means speakers that sound good against a wall, not many exist) -> full on hifi.
The interest is there but I don't think going full on hifi is the right way since they'll not be able to afford it at their current age or have the space. But eventually most people have families and move to houses and if they have the bug, they have the bug and will then get serious with two channel.
Just my opinion
I think you are right. I started out with headphones too. And what you say about living conditions reminds me of how privileged I am now: being able to crank up my system as much as I want to. That is a luxury not many can afford. I have lived in apartments until age 45, and only then bought a house where I could fully crank it up. But even that came with a catch in my densely populated neighborhood, which is that my closest neighbor is just 20 feet away. I had to resort to tricks like window plugs for my room (from ASC; they also vastly improve the sound). Even so, I only listen loudly during the day, not in the middle of the night.
It can indeed be more fun to listen with headphones at a reasonable level than having to turn it down with speakers.
The only thing that I have to worry about now is my ears. I keep my daily dose in check, aided by SPL meter, according to NIOSH recommendations for sound exposure.
You're welcome, I was actually the wondering the same thing you were. Here is an older thread I started: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/how-many-millennials-do-you-see-at-hifi-shows.23023/
I hadn't been to an audiophile show in years so I was wondering what it was like.
I started with headphones as well
I will use them now and then for solo piano music, it offers a nice intimate view of the performer/performance. Actually enjoying some late Schubert as I type this, an old recording by Annie Fischer.
Can you please elaborate on this IMHO very wrong posting of yours?
What makes you think what you wrote above?
Btw. I asked you this already in posting #81
I’m confused Ron,I was told that Gen X was Aug 1963 to 1980.
Hi Jim,
That is absolutely, positively, unequivocally correct! You are a very learned man in the generation categorization department.
At least now the IMHO among the most beautiful cars ever built, the Corvette C2 Coupe is in my generation
I'm old enough that my daughter doesn't make the cutoff for the Millennials. I thought I was a baby boomer, but being born between the time the war ended in Germany and Japan, I guess I (and Steve W) are members of the previous (Silent) generation. We were on a transatlantic voyage in late May/early June between NYC and Southampton (London) and on board were twenty or more members of Greatest Generation, who shared their memories of WWII with the other passengers as they were heading to Normandy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Quite an experience.
Larry
Larry
I’m a spiritual cusp boomer millennial myself, but great music can always bring all the gens together. Generation isn’t your only tribe. Where you come from is a greater tribe. The culture that you share is the greatest tribe.
Last night a mate’s (from primary school right through) band got back together after 30 years. It was a local pub band that in the 80’s here in Oz played mostly UK rock and punk. A full on night of The Cure, The Clash, Sex Pistols with a bit of Talking heads and David Byrne and it was just an awesome dance crowd.
A completely cross generational room, boomers, millennials and i gen and everyone was going off. Just magic. Our crowd from back in the day were full of art students and musos and I recalled an occasional saying we as a group had, f@&k art, let’s dance lol.
Though seeing a dance floor full of people that I grew up with (dare I say grew old with) doing intense energy (late 70’s and 80’s angry dance) I am guessing quite a few chiropractors across the city will be booked out for a while to come.
We so often talk about the things that separate us but great music and shared culture still brings all the tribes together.
Last night a mate’s (from primary school right through) band got back together after 30 years. It was a local pub band that in the 80’s here in Oz played mostly UK rock and punk. A full on night of The Cure, The Clash, Sex Pistols with a bit of Talking heads and David Byrne and it was just an awesome dance crowd.
A completely cross generational room, boomers, millennials and i gen and everyone was going off. Just magic. Our crowd from back in the day were full of art students and musos and I recalled an occasional saying we as a group had, f@&k art, let’s dance lol.
Though seeing a dance floor full of people that I grew up with (dare I say grew old with) doing intense energy (late 70’s and 80’s angry dance
) I am guessing quite a few chiropractors across the city will be booked out for a while to come.We so often talk about the things that separate us but great music and shared culture still brings all the tribes together.
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I was born in 1982, turning 38 next month and apparently am a millennial according to Wikipedia. I don’t resonate with the definition (other than the year range apparently) of one however. I typically see a millennial as the know-it-all complaining-about-lack-of-jobs and swamped-in-college-debt 20-something that media defines them as.
I’m perfectly happy, debt-free, have a secure job, am set up for a solid retirement (I’ll probably survive the coronavirus) and have already been through a divorce. I listen to more Frank Sinatra than Frank Ocean, take multi vitamins and omega-3 caps in the morning and go to sleep at 9:30, so I’m probably not a good example.
Edit:
What would I like to discuss? I’d like to discuss what we can collectively do to save Hi-Fi and the perception of audiophiles. Most mainstream tech site demonize and make fun of audiophiles. Lots of snake oil talk. I need to have at least 25-40 more years of hardware upgrades in the pipe to last the rest of my lifetime. I’m already have some high end stuff: Ayre VX-R/20, Scala Utopia V2, MSB Premier DAC and so forth. I’d like to ensure the industry survives so I’m not scrounging for spare capacitors and transformers to keep my good stuff alive down the road. I’d say we have another decade or so before you guys in your 60’s and 70’s start departing this world. So what happens to things then? The high end media needs a full refresh also. I can only handle so many more Stereophile “As We See It” columns with f’ing old dudes talking about CDs and how streaming is complicated and bla bla bla (look at the March 2020 one just released...it’s 20..20 and we are STILL giving a rehash of digital audio as an opener? Oh my god.) and we are STILL debating MQA? MOVE ON. NEXT SUBJECT. Vinyl is awesome for nostalgia but my home system DAC already surpasses or comes close to the DACs used to master vinyl. Any NEWLY RECORDED mainstream music I’m buying was already recorded digitally and would be undergoing an unnecessary A-D conversion via vinyl anyways. /rant
What do we need? An industry reboot, quality stuff to lower the entry to the audiophile world, and some new journalists and bloggers. I’ll start with an example, younger people believe more in science (there are LOTS of younger engineers now), so if you’re reviewing cables, power conditioning gear, or any other type of accessory, you’ll build way more credibility with an objective fact-based review as possible.
(Sorry about my rant above. I try to support the industry by subscribing to Stereophile and TAS and I read this stuff on the bike at the gym so I get very amped up and just want to throw my phone at the wall sometimes after I read some of the trash that comes out of them...moreso Stereophile these days, TAS I perceive as classier.)
I’m perfectly happy, debt-free, have a secure job, am set up for a solid retirement (I’ll probably survive the coronavirus) and have already been through a divorce. I listen to more Frank Sinatra than Frank Ocean, take multi vitamins and omega-3 caps in the morning and go to sleep at 9:30, so I’m probably not a good example.
Edit:
What would I like to discuss? I’d like to discuss what we can collectively do to save Hi-Fi and the perception of audiophiles. Most mainstream tech site demonize and make fun of audiophiles. Lots of snake oil talk. I need to have at least 25-40 more years of hardware upgrades in the pipe to last the rest of my lifetime. I’m already have some high end stuff: Ayre VX-R/20, Scala Utopia V2, MSB Premier DAC and so forth. I’d like to ensure the industry survives so I’m not scrounging for spare capacitors and transformers to keep my good stuff alive down the road. I’d say we have another decade or so before you guys in your 60’s and 70’s start departing this world. So what happens to things then? The high end media needs a full refresh also. I can only handle so many more Stereophile “As We See It” columns with f’ing old dudes talking about CDs and how streaming is complicated and bla bla bla (look at the March 2020 one just released...it’s 20..20 and we are STILL giving a rehash of digital audio as an opener? Oh my god.) and we are STILL debating MQA? MOVE ON. NEXT SUBJECT. Vinyl is awesome for nostalgia but my home system DAC already surpasses or comes close to the DACs used to master vinyl. Any NEWLY RECORDED mainstream music I’m buying was already recorded digitally and would be undergoing an unnecessary A-D conversion via vinyl anyways. /rant
What do we need? An industry reboot, quality stuff to lower the entry to the audiophile world, and some new journalists and bloggers. I’ll start with an example, younger people believe more in science (there are LOTS of younger engineers now), so if you’re reviewing cables, power conditioning gear, or any other type of accessory, you’ll build way more credibility with an objective fact-based review as possible.
(Sorry about my rant above. I try to support the industry by subscribing to Stereophile and TAS and I read this stuff on the bike at the gym so I get very amped up and just want to throw my phone at the wall sometimes after I read some of the trash that comes out of them...moreso Stereophile these days, TAS I perceive as classier.)
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Getting into the a good job market before 2008 was one of the most beneficial things anyone could do, and almost no millennials did.
Thanks for your reply, Folsom. Would love to read a reply from you to the OP’s question in thread-starting post if you’re a millennial.
Yes, I think Ron’s goal is to get a better understanding of the demographic so he can help improve the site. I’m generally curious as to others’ responses as well. You chimed in early on and seem to be a regular poster here.
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