The amplifier market is becoming like the watch market. The quartz revolution almost bankrupted Swiss watchmaking. A luxury market for mechanical watches emerged with a few survivor companies that created luxury priced products as status symbols. Rolex were never luxury-priced goods in the 1950s and 60s. They were mid to high-end sports tier. They are now. Are they inarguably better than a Casio G-shock? Of course not.
Me? I have all mechanical watches
(but they're Japanese movements, not Swiss -- I'm not spending my money on luxury pricing.)
I completely agree with this.
To take a brief detour, has the watch market experienced a disruption similar to how Class D amplifiers have disrupted the high-end amp market?
What have the intelligent watches (Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) done to the watch market. Have they raised the average watch price while devastating the low end (Casio, Timex, no-name) brands?
I own a couple of nice quartz and mechanical watches. However, they are collecting dust. I currently wear an Apple Ultra (which I’ve had for two years), which is my ultimate watch for many reasons.
There are so many intelligent watches out there, but for me, the Apple Ultra is and endgame watch. Yes, it’s a bit bulky and the battery life isn’t the longest, but it keeps perfect time, tracks my activity, sleep, heart rate, and much, much, more. If an Ultra X is released with a 5-day battery life, I might consider upgrading, but the main point is that I’ll have no interest in owning more watches, and I’ll certainly never go back to a regular watch. (And owning a Purifi Class D amplifier from Audiophonics means I’ll never buy another amp.)
My questions are:
a) Have Class D amplifiers completely disrupted the mid to high-end amp market? Can the mid-tier players survive?
b) Have intelligent watches (Apple, Garmin, Fitbit, etc.) similarly upended the watch market and caused traditional, low and mid-tier brands like Seiko and Citizen to struggle?
Back to your regularly scheduled program!
