Question Why Youngsters are not into Hi-FI

[abacus]

Interesting video here, interested in other opinions.

Bill

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Can't make myself watch YT stuff, but I suspect it's as much as anything down to the mobile becoming the main source of music. I can understand the view that what's the point in spending loads on big, immobile stuff when it can sit in your pocket. Coupled with the fact that kids stay at home until they are older, meaning that they probably don't have their own space, and that their folks will grumble about the racket they make. None of these are issues with a phone and some earbuds.

 

[RTHerringbone]

Yep, it's largely about what you are exposed to and (importantly) what your friends are doing. Along with the practicalities and cost.

My kids (11 and 14) only really knew of Spotify and YouTube as music sources until we brought Hi-Fi back to the house over Christmas. They were (begrudgingly) impressed by the increased fidelity through a "proper" system and will occasionally ask for their favourite songs and artists on the Hi-Fi, but it's just easier for them to scroll through apps and listen through headphones / pods wherever they want.

 

[Jasonovich]

I think, there's nothing to be had from this YT video. Kid's live on a different sphere than the rest of us.
The money they earn is spent on boozing and getting laid. The mobile phone in their pocket is their centre of the universe. They exert a lot of energy but do nothing.
It's important kids are allowed to have their time for living, everything else can wait.

 

[Snowfun]

Isn't it simply because what you (or "we") understand as "hifi" simply isn't relevant to those of a younger generation? It's all about ease of access and short-term enjoyment now - preferably with a video component added. The "quality" is all about the story and production value - very little relevance to how it is reproduced (which will, of course, invariable be via a phone). Similarly, very few youngsters are buying into traditional video cameras or DSLRs - phones are perfectly "good enough" (and for 99% of purposes, they are...). Indeed, I'd be more surprised if the question was "why is the younger generation still buying hifi"?

 

[DCarmi]

In my experience youngsters are not always that young. Many 30+ years olds just use phones or smart speakers.

 

[Dave_]

It's no bad thing IMO, since its an industry full largely of scammers and charlatans exploiting the gullible.

More power to them, for actually just "enjoying the music", something audiophiles purport it's all about, but fail miserably at.

 

[Fandango Andy]

“And the world looks just the same, And history ain't changed”​

When I was around ten years old my main way of listening to music was on a Walkman with headphones. This hasn’t changed for kids these days except the Walkman has been replaced by a mobile phone and wireless headphones and with the benefit of access to all the music not just the cassettes owned or copied from friends (Home taping didn’t kill music). To listen to music through speakers meant a HiFi system or “Gettoblaster”, but these days it could be a speaker dock, Bluetooth speaker, TV soundbar, or just the speaker on a phone or laptop.

Let’s be honest adults (particularly men) like toys. For some this may manifest as playing with actual toys like the train set you couldn’t afford as a child, or the latest Lego set. For others, those toys are disguised as more adult hobbies, a fisherman having to have the latest equipment, tinkering with cars, and motorbikes, or having every kitchen gadget ever invented. However, if you were born this century, you probably moved over from traditional kids toys, to something with a touchscreen at a young age, and now in your twenties, you haven’t looked up from said screen yet. This both fulfils the desire for toys, but also takes kids away from old fashioned “toys” like HiFi.

There is also a measure of exposure. If each generation is less likely to have a HiFi, where are kids going to see them? While you have always had to visit a specialist shop for equipment from a certain level, entry level equipment used to be sold in Commet, Currys, or Dixons (only one of which still exists). My first Soney system when I was about fifteen came from one or the these places.

Finally, traditionally HiFi was always an “investment”, even a budget system costs a significant amount of money and would be kept for a long time. Everything is disposable these days. Five minutes after you walk out the shop (or more likely five minutes after a man in a white van delivers it) your new smartphone will be obsolete, and your provider will be on the phone offering an upgrade. Low quality clothing has been rebranded “fast fashion”. Is there room for a long-term investment in these people’s lives?

There is still a gateway, where some kids get into HiFi, vinyl. Most kids who have a suitcase record player will never move on from there. For others, it could be a gateway to a system.

 

[manicm]

I think this is a myth. My 8 year old has expressed interest in my CD collection and proper hifi, which he has never been exposed to really. I've just had a soundbar since I got married. Now divorced and in search of a new home, I will be then in hunt for a new system. He actually wants me to get a turntable, but that's for another day. He was impressed by the sound of a turntable system, the details I don't know. But he loved it when I reconnected the soundbar at my ex-wife's place. He appreciates good sound at home.

He usually listens to Spotify on the iPad.

Kids are much more perceptive than what you give them credit for.