I very much suspect that 99% of the people on this forum can be classed as ‘Audiophiles’. We are happy to pay a reasonable amount of money on our ‘music’ hobby, invest in relatively expensive music streaming services, are interested in CD quality music from these streaming services when surely 128 bit MP3 is surely good enough, and we listen to our music via decent stereo earbuds or stereo speakers.
Perhaps my estimate of 99% is too conservative. Probably 100% of us could be classed as audiophiles. I’m personally not at all ashamed to consider myself somewhat of an audiophile.
I can’t possibly count of the number of times I have listened to the Alan Parsons’ produced “Dark side of the Moon”. I bought the album when it first came out, and I can assure him (or anyone else) that I used my
changing equipment over the years to listen to the music and not the other way round.
Indeed, I would not be at all surprised should Alan Parsons himself have a reasonably good hi-fi system at home.
Oh I don’t know. I have had quoted ‘this is something that any non audiophile could say to any audiophile’ regarding one of my comments.
I’m not really bothered as I downgraded a lot of my gear and stopped ‘chasing the dragon’ a few years ago and am happier for it. I guess some people may need a ‘label’ to feel superior to those slumming it like me.
I would suggest that the labels themselves convey nothing meaningful about discrete categories of listeners since both the choice of music we listen to and the appreciation of the equipment we use are personal and subjective.
When I moved my first steps in this hobby I admit that I was partially ashamed to consider myself an audiophile because I thought that was a category of people putting too much efforts on their gear rather than music.
Then I noticed that not all of them are equally obsessed with the tools. Moreover, I started noticing on myself some attention toward details regarding audio gear.
Today to me audio enthusiast or audiophile are two definitions almost equivalent.
The only thing that still bother me are some extremisms. Just an example: cable lifters. I think that pushing to that extreme, with so little evidence/improvement involved (my opinion, of course) does more harm than good to this hobby.
Studio monitors for sure! Once one gets used to the sound, there is no going back. Relatively inexpensive too. No desk needed, but control room or mastering room acoustics will help a lot…
What’s wrong with that? Having passion for something means having passion for something!
There’s enough extremism around these days that you can find it on both sides (audiophile or not). I personally found the voices of those who believe that all the cables are the same being more extreme than the voices of those who hear the difference!
Yes, passion is passion. A driving force capable of leading humans to astonishing accomplishments.
It drives you sometimes so deeply into a thing that you forget the starting point, though.
Actually, Hi-Fi involves 2 hobbies in one: music and the reproduction of it. If you dig only in the latter, forgetting the former, it doesn’t make much sense. Unless you care only about pure engineering, craftsmanship and aesthetic.
It’s like having a hobby for cars (and driving them). You enter your garage with the intention to go for a ride.
And then you start to clean the windshield, polish here, admire there, tweak this, caress that and night comes and you are still in the garage without making the ride.