A couple of thoughts on this NPR article on the disappearance of the audiophile:

• I’m not sure that I believe in a “golden age” of high-end audio. Music reproduction technology has always trended toward the more convenient and the more personal. Records presented a more convenient and personal way to listen to music than going to hear live music. If iPods were available in the 50’s, they’d have loved them too.
• For that matter, any record is worse sound quality than live music.
• iPod is to stereo as transistor radio is to gigantic handheld radio.
• You can’t discount improvements in recording technology. Regardless of the method of reproduction, recording technology is much more sophisticated and sensitive than in the past. It’s like video: digital is not as good as film (yet), but it’s much better than tape.