Before anyone goes denigrating listeners based on their gear, some perspective is in order.

Consider that 20 years ago, most listening was done using prerecorded cassettes (LP nostalgists have it all wrong -- the CD did not supersede the LP format, because the cassette sales had already surpassed the LP the year before the CD format was even introduced). And most of those cassettes were played through portable devices or boom boxes that further butchered the audio quality. I can tell you from first hand experience that a 128k MP3 file is heaven to the ears compared to what those cassettes sounded like.

And even the retroactively beloved LP format didn't fare much better. Unlike the revisionist lovefest with the LP that you see nowadays, most LPs from 30 years ago were played back on wretched sounding record changers or portable record players or all-in-one systems.

And going back another generation before that, the 78 disc was the dominant format. And again, from first hand listenings, I can tell you that a 128k MP3 will blow away the audio quality of 78s.

Previous generations primarily listened to their favorite music on inferior systems, and using inferior formats. I doubt that they loved music any less than anyone today does.

Same thing goes today. People generally listen to music on inferior systems. But, you know what? The sound quality from a low end set of speakers today sounds a LOT better than anything that was available 20 or 30 years ago for the same price.

Personally, I don't think that having a cheap sound system means that you love music any less than someone with a high end system. I've known some of the most devoted music fans getting by with horrible sounding mini systems at home, and some of the most indifferent music "fans" spending five figure sums on their home audio systems (these are people who choose their music based on how it sounds).