The audio hobby is a terrible financial decision.

[Puddingbuks]

Never before, so much quality in sound reproduction could be had for such little money.

 

[Redacted]

Never before, so much quality in sound reproduction could be had for such little money.

The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the makers of good, cheap audio gear.

[it's a test]

 

[Oddball]

Never before, so much quality in sound reproduction could be had for such little money.

I wish that manufacturers of speakers and sub could hear your cry. Speakers and subs able to reproduce life-like experience aka high SPL at low distortion still cost much more than one could call affordable.

 

[PristineSound]

I agree that audio hobby is not doing well financially if compared to investable assets in general. But then the return on the investment in audio hoby is of a different kind - as noted - it is measured in the enjoyment of the material that is played on audio gear.

Mitigation against the financial loss would be to keep the gear for a long time, so that cost-per-month drops to levels that are "reasonable". In that context, buy once cry once has a meaningful financial impact. Constant "upgrades" are going to be less financially rewarding for the most part. Good speakers and amps will last for a very long time - 15 or 20 years, if not longer - if chosen well. Pre-amps or AVP/AVRs are usually the components that require more frequent upgrades to do new features or formats so keeping that component separatate helps to isolate the loss to a smaller amount.

The cost of my 5.1 surround system 15 years ago was around $40K. I still have the speakers and amps and use them, which brings the cost (without the $5K preamp) to less than $200 a month. If they last for another 10 years, which I think they could, as for the most part they were pampered and well engineered, that would bring the cost closer to $100 a month. I am comfortable with both numbers as they represent a good return for all the enjoyment I had from the system. There were additional costs upgrading the AVP, but that is unfortunately a necessity in the evolving environment.

Great post!

Especially this:

Mitigation against the financial loss would be to keep the gear for a long time, so that cost-per-month drops to levels that are "reasonable". In that context, buy once cry once has a meaningful financial impact. Constant "upgrades" are going to be less financially rewarding for the most part.

At this point in my life, I have only learned not too long ago that if you are going to buy something and you want it to last long and will be using it often, don't go cheap, if you do, it will just cost you more in the long run.

However, it's not always as easy said than done because sometimes you need to own a product to have experience with what you need/want and don't. For example, when I was buying subwoofers, I thought to myself that if I am going to get two subs, I will get something that is decent. So instead of SVS SB1000 or 2000, I got 3000. But after owning it for 3 years, I realized I should of gotten the SB4000, because I needed the balanced input if I wanted to place the sub in a different part of the room to manage room modes. Another example is that I need a preamp with more than 1 set out output so I can add subs as I will be moving to a new home and it's larger in space.

 

[Puddingbuks]

I wish that manufacturers of speakers and sub could hear your cry. Speakers and subs able to reproduce life-like experience aka high SPL at low distortion still cost much more than one could call affordable.

Problem for most people is that they cannot play that loud because of neighbours. A set of active speakers with streaming and say my SVS PC2000 Pro sub can be had for less than 3000 euro/dollar and will shake the room.

 

[DanielT]

Watches? Investment? Hah!:

View attachment 538532

Ok, maybe in the past watches were seen as investment objects. Something else, I don't know what the thing is now. AI expanded the answer to:

The most worthwhile hobbies offer a high return on investment (ROI) in mental well-being, personal finance, or skill development. The best pursuits balance a manageable starting cost with lifelong benefits.

Physical and mental well-being. There probably isn't a better investment than that.

 

[Oddball]

Problem for most people is that they cannot play that loud because of neighbours. A set of active speakers with streaming and say my SVS PC2000 Pro sub can be had for less than 3000 euro/dollar and will shake the room.

It is all relative. Room size, neighbours, listening habits, distortion tolerance, preference curve, room correction, etc. So no general conclusion. Mighty speakers are still expensive and will probably get more so as less and less people will buy them for various constraints.

In general, I don't buy the arguments like "I listen to low levels" or "neighbours will object". Audio is meant to be played in life like size, at least sometimes when you get the itch. If system is not able to do that then it will not really provide the ultimate level of experience needed for audio. If you go to a concert, they won't ask you if you would prefer them to turn the volume down a bit.

 

[HalSF]

Hi-fi is incredibly lucrative. One jackpot of joy and pleasure after another.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

Like many hobbies, it can be done relatively inexpensively, but there are plenty of people ready to take your money if you're willing to part with it.

I haven't spend serious money on audio in years. Yeah, I recently replaced my DAC with $100 SMSL, and my ADC with a MiniDSP, and bought a pair of USB isolators to reduce the noise floor coming out of my PC. Maybe $400 all together.

$300 on a Audio Technica USB turntable to digitize my vinyl. (It's not the weak point, the records are).

Compared to my other hobbies (skiing and sailing) it's a cheap one, especially if you amortize it over the lifetime of the gear and do a dollars per hour analysis.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

Many years ago we had a discussion/argument at the sailing club about what is the most expensive hobby. Audio never even got mentioned; the contenders were golf, skiing, horses, sailing, car racing, etc.

It's been a while, and this may not still be true, but we did the research and discovered that the most expensive hobby was: camel racing.

Mainly because the oil sheiks who are into camel racing have more money than they know what to do with.

So, console yourself that you haven't developed an all consuming passion for camel racing.

 

[Redacted]

I think we refer to cheap on here as meaning low-price for the quality we get. We don't mean cheap and nasty in the sense of stuff that falls apart and goes into recycling - that stuff is practically free. All the Chinese items I have bought from "recent brands" have been exceptionally well manufactured and usually, designed. Really, I'd refer to 'not cheap' as being many of the western brands that are usually made in China, but for which people pay a 'badge premium'.

 

[Redacted]

Many years ago we had a discussion/argument at the sailing club about what is the most expensive hobby. Audio never even got mentioned; the contenders were golf, skiing, horses, sailing, car racing, etc.

It's been a while, and this may not still be true, but we did the research and discovered that the most expensive hobby was: camel racing.

Mainly because the oil sheiks who are into camel racing have more money than they know what to do with.

So, console yourself that you haven't developed an all consuming passion for camel racing.

Marriage is not cheap, and best not treated as a hobby.

In my case however, I owe all my relative affluence since retiring at 56 (one year late to plan) to my wife's careful and knowledgable handling of funds, and her work, since about 1987 - I DGAF about handling money (I don't really spend it either), so I left it to her to sort out - probably a relief to her. I'm better at carrying heavy things or using power tools (which she regularly buys me) and generally shouting at the pigeons, which many of you have detected....

 

[RedVikingHood]

I reckon that this hobby, HiFi Audio, is a terrible hobby financially.

At least with hobbies like mechanical watch, or cars, there is a chance some collectibles may hold on to its value and some may go up in value.

With audio, Gosh, have you tried to sell in the used market post-COVID? It's a disaster.

Watches are not investments. there have been a handful of watches over the years that have completely destroyed inflation even when you account for insurance and servicing costs. But people didn't know which watches those would be at the time. Because of Rolex flipping, there is this artificial idea again of investment. But that is not what an investment is. Of course Rolex and some other brands do hold their value better but we see this in the pro audio world If you know which microphones to buy etc.

 

[Spkrdctr]

If the hobby is draining your finances the best place to buy equipment is a white van parked in a big parking lot. Ok, I will move on........

 

[Redacted]

If the hobby is draining your finances the best place to buy equipment is a white van parked in a big parking lot. Ok, I will move on........

Ask him how he knows....

 

[hvbias]

If you view everything hobby related as holding value and comparing it against a benchmark like the S&P500 that will only lead to pure misery. I've been a decades long Bogleheader and I know countless people with high seven and low eight figure net worths that live like they're on the poverty line because they only get pleasure from seeing their account numbers go up.

Your example of watches and cars is a poor one as well. Outside of less than 1% of watches and cars these will be awful from an investment point of view as well. I sold a very high value watch collection a couple of years after Covid, comprised of mostly Swiss big 3 and that was purely by luck that they held their value so well/appreciated. If you want a similar type of watch these days you'll be spending hundreds of thousands on depreciating watches in order to be allocated one or be waiting for 5+ years.

 

[PristineSound]

If you view everything hobby related as holding value and comparing it against a benchmark like the S&P500 that will only lead to pure misery. I've been a decades long Bogleheader and I know countless people with high seven and low eight figure net worths that live like they're on the poverty line because they only get pleasure from seeing their account numbers go up.

Doh, don't call me out like that! haha.

More on a serious note, I do very much enjoy watching my account going up, especially in the last 2 decades or so, it's been an incredible bull run.

However, I do enjoy my hobbies very much. My brother "collects" BMW M3's. He has some model that is holding up close to inflation and made keep up with inflation in few more years. Yeah, for sure there's unlikely any hobby that will hold up against the market, some hold up better than others.

 

[prerich]

I reckon that this hobby, HiFi Audio, is a terrible hobby financially.

At least with hobbies like mechanical watch, or cars, there is a chance some collectibles may hold on to its value and some may go up in value.

With audio, Gosh, have you tried to sell in the used market post-COVID? It's a disaster.

Well, I wish I would have held on to several of my speakers that I sold during covid. I sold a trio of walnut Cornwalls with the original crossovers and ALK crossovers - pristine condition...for $1500. Now I see a pair going for almost double that price. I've also seen several McIntosh pieces begining to increase in value (as they make a transition to class D). Overall, my situation has been pretty good. Oh, the value of my Legacy speakers are going up like crazy. You get the right stuff, you can find some collectible items. I still wish I had my Yamaha NS-1000's ...I sold those for $45 to meet weight allowance when I separated from the military...I took them on a trade so they didn't cost me much ....but I didn't know their value either.

 

[levimax]

unlikely any hobby that will hold up against the market, some hold up better than others.

Collecting Gold Coins has done pretty well

 

[Timcognito]

I got this for $800 ~ 1980 and some are asking $4k, not selling