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Didn't we had this discussion here very recently?
The British Unilever (food) made significantly more profit in the past quarter, while it sold less volume / numbers. How? Simple, by raising prices. Or more specific; by calculating more profit margin and this on top of the inflation correction!. And the consumer, who is already having a hard time due to normal inflation, is therefore facing extreme price increases. And what Unilever also does, it sells the same canned soup in "handy" (disposable) bags, Different name, perhaps slightly better taste but with a price more than double than the regular (and already good) canned soup. Unilever is lucky that people have to keep eating, however more and more consumers are now forced to buy cheaper brands, making Unilver…yes indeed!
Same with audio. Only then it is called "high-end". Strongly declining turnover (in terms of volume / numbers) are (over)compensated by so-called "high end" prices (and profit marge). 300K for speakers and 10K for a power strip? Is this for real? (What does this say about the (psyche of the) buyer?)
Audio as we know it is dying a slow death. Ask and conclude yourself; how old is the average visitor of an audio fair (audio only)? How old is the average buyer of "better" audio equipment? 20+ 30+ 40+ or 50+? 50+! And probably today already 60+. And they, like me, will all be dead in 20 to 30 years or so old & sick that they really have other concerns and interests than audio music gear. Young people, if they have purchasing power at all, are usually extroverted and only interested in displaying, ehm .. sharing their lives (all happy shining people) on social media on the latest new iPhone on which they also play games and binge watch series. People under 50 simply have lost interest in "better" audio. Wireless in-ears on-the-move are good enough or a mono Sonos at home, if not already too expensive. (official figures on spending patterns and trends of families show this, in the seventies a large part of the family disposable income went to audio / video equipment, then from the nineties to interactive and mobile communication (computer / internet & smart phones and tables) and to travel, eating & drinking outdoors and buying cheap junk from China (that has made us all slaves of China, but that's another discussion).
I don't like to conclude this, I am a (50+ and yes ... male) introverted / autistic audiophile who started to have interested in "better" audio equipment since 14yo but the flight to (the extreme) "high-end" (prices / margin of profit only to compensate the declining sales numbers) makes the audio industry not sympathetic and I can only see it as the industry's last convulsion. Instead of upgrading my audio gear I am expanding my music collection (which it should really be all about, the music, but I admit I use the music to listen to my audio equipment rather than the other way around) by adding more music to my collection. And I buy (downloading, I am against the "sharing economy" (including streaming), an economy where only the platform, the facilitator makes profits and not the creator / musician / owner. Besides the sound quality argument).
Things come and go. Trends/interests come and go. The world as we know it will no longer exist tomorrow. Is that bad? No, movement creates progress (and chaos creates beautiful things). Either way, the one who adapts survives. Survival of the fittest. It has always been that way and it always will be.
Thank you (audio industry, I enjoyed your gear a lot and I still do).