Should HiFi be much less expensive nowadays, because of technology and obsolescence?

[Frank Dernie]

That proves it. You were too old. Too late to acclimate to headphone sound as much as speakers

I had already been using headphones since I was 20.
Admittedly kids use them from early age now.
It is like photography, when I was a teenager almost nobody had a camera and those that didn't take many photos since processing was expensive but p[ictures were taken mainly by people who knew what they were doing and had high technical (no autofocus or exposure) and artistic skills.
Nowadays people take billions of mainly pointless and crappy pictures.

 

[Wombat]

Where do all of those casual everyday type phone pics end up? In unlabelled memory cards or put on social networks and then forgotten?

A smart phone is good for aspiring beginners to learn the basics on before committing to an expensive 'real' camera. Even a cheapie is miles better than the old cheap plastic cameras and Box Brownies.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Where do all of those casual everyday type phone pics end up? In unlabelled memory cards or put on social networks and then forgotten?

A smart phone is good for aspiring beginners to learn the basics on before committing to an expensive 'real' camera. Even a cheapie is miles better than the old cheap plastic cameras and Box Brownies.

The lens/sensor assemblies made for mobile phones are superb quality for the price.
The problem is angle of view. In order to get lots in they have wider angles than is good for portraits but many of the pictures are people with perspective distortion.
It is not an accident that people's noses look much bigger and their ears further back than reality!

 

[Igor Kirkwood]

This is an interesting thread Frank. Should HiFi gear be cheaper in real terms than it is?

. Consider what your NS1000M pair sold for. Even in 1991 I sold them for AU$3499 pair. Even the stupendous NS-1000X was AU$4999 pair. And they were the best speakers a company the size of Yamaha could produce. Even the Centenary NS-10000X were under AU$10K per pair.

.

I use now 4 Yamaha NS-1000x (2 passive and 2 active with tweeter Focal Be and QSC processor)

With 4 subs SVS PC 2000 and a treated hall of 130 m3

I think nothing really best . (with a possible level of 100 dBC at 3,10 meters

 

[Wombat]

The lens/sensor assemblies made for mobile phones are superb quality for the price.
The problem is angle of view. In order to get lots in they have wider angles than is good for portraits but many of the pictures are people with perspective distortion.
It is not an accident that people's noses look much bigger and their ears further back than reality!

Newer cameras have multiple lenses now. They come as a premium feature on higher level phones.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Newer cameras have multiple lenses now. They come as a premium feature on higher level phones.

Yes, but even the "telephoto" tends to be equivalent to a standard lens in fact.
In the end selfies are mainly taken with the phone at arm's length so the faces will always have considerable perspective distortion.
Good people pictures are few and far between and are not taken with phones.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

I feel more like headphones are to HiFi, as watching porn is to sex. Listening on headphones is better than nothing. But at the same time, it can be shocking how much of an improvement speakers bring to your enjoyment of music compared to headphones.

IF you have the requirements to enjoy well designed, positioned and measured in speakers, yes. Speakers are preferable.
For that to apply you need your own house though, preferably with an optimized and treated room solely dedicated to audio. If you don't have one, the question whether the Neighbor may be disturbed by your music or not will always be in your head unless you turn the SPL down to very low levels, which starts to mess with the spectral balance of the content. Not to mention quiet music being even further away from the "live music event" than headphone listening at the "appropriate" SPL.

Personally I agree with @raistlin65 : Listening to cans vs listening to speakers are simply two different experiences with different points of merit and weakness. For me, the biggest benefit is carefree enjoyment. I do not have to think about other people when I put on my Clear and can focus all of my attention on the music. The biggest benefit of my speakers are imaging and not having to wear sth. on my head.

For the record: I have never attended a live event, nor do I ever intend to do so. So many people crammed into the same place would just make me run away within seconds. So my view is probably less biased than yours, since I do not try to re-create any particular experience. I can only say that neither headphones nor speakers stand any chance at all to recreate what I feel when I sit down at the grand piano in my music school. Alas technology simply isn't there yet.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I can only say that neither headphones nor speakers stand any chance at all to recreate what I feel when I sit down at the grand piano in my music school. Alas technology simply isn't there yet.

We have 2 rooms dedicated to music here.
One contains a hifi with high loudness and full frequency range capacity.
The other contains a Steinway Model-B piano.
You may be surprised how close they are. Certainly headphones and smaller speakers of limited frequency bandwidth and loudness capacity would struggle to be anywhere near, but getting fairly close isn't impossible but not cheap or easy.

Edit:
yes I am lucky, I own my own house in a town where my neighbours are sufficiently far away for us not to inconvenience them with our music.