January 2026

How Do Audiophiles Attract A Younger Audience?
The high-end audio industry needs to get the new generation aboard.
Editorial By Alan Sircom

  According to science-fiction timelines, 2026 plants us in the middle of several dystopian eras. We're lodged somewhere between Soylent Green, Highlander II: The Quickening and Children of Men. So... Happy New Year!

In fact, stepping away from international geopolitics and staying in our audio-enthusiast, music-loving lane, things look a lot better. Spotify is rolling out its lossless service to ever more countries, joining Qobuz and Tidal in delivering quality streaming. Meanwhile, LP leads the field in physical formats once more, but reports of CD's demise are greatly exaggerated, and seeing the re-emergence of tape shows people still love listening to music in any way they can. We're also seeing improvements in good audio equipment across the board, too. While it's easy to focus on the big ticket equipment, it's not hard to find outstanding audio products at every price point.

And yet, audio companies keep spouting the same mantra; 'how do we attract a younger audience?' Every company is looking for that magic combination of interface, performance and design that will unlock an audience of Generation Alpha buyers. As always, the car, camera and watch analogies are rolled out... often forgetting that many companies in those sectors are asking the same question.

Part of this need to attract a younger market is a worry about hitting the demographic cliff; if your target audience is more 'hip-op' than 'hip-hop', with no one new coming on board, the sector's future looks bleak. But it's also in part nostalgia; we were the kids with our noses pressed up against the store window, and we want to get a new generation to do the same.

However, it's 2026, not 1956 or 1976. People don't think that way anymore. Good audio is a 'two-fridge' concept; no one buys a good audio system today until they have bought at least two refrigerators in their lives. Hear me out on this... when you are at college or in those first jobs, a fridge is something that comes with the rental agreement. You buy your first refrigerator when you get that first 'real' home, and buy a second one when you move to that bigger house and domestic life is a little more settled; that's the person we should be learning to speak to. 

hi-fi+ was saddened to learn of the passing of Michel Reverchon (1945-2025), founder of the Swiss high-end audio company, Goldmund. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and the Goldmund team.

Congratulations go out to Noemi Kaucz from Romania, who is the lucky winner of a pair of the excellent Meze Audio 105 AER headphones, given away in our recent competition. Well done!

Alan Sircom, Editor hi-fi+

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