What is an Audiophile?

Calvin

Calvin

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This topic is about Audiophiles, not Music Lovers. And to be clear all Audiophiles are Music Lovers, but not all Music Lovers are Audiophiles. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong about being a Music Lover and a not an Audiophile.

What is an Audiophile? In the past few days, I've seen a lot of opinions on this topic, but all of them seem wanting. None of them complete.

Anyone can use a term - and that even incorrectly - but what is every aspect (a 1, 2, 3 etc. complete list) of who / what an Audiophile is? What makes an Audiophile an Audiophile? How does he differ from a Music Lover? Let's assemble a complete list with the reasons why items are being included on the list.

IMO, this can be a excellent learning opportunity.
 
Calvin said:
This topic is about Audiophiles, not Music Lovers. And to be clear all Audiophiles are Music Lovers, but not all Music Lovers are Audiophiles. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong about being a Music Lover and a not an Audiophile.

What is an Audiophile? In the past few days, I've seen a lot of opinions on this topic, but all of them seem wanting. None of them complete.

Anyone can use a term - and that even incorrectly - but what is every aspect (a 1, 2, 3 etc. complete list) of who / what an Audiophile is? What makes an Audiophile an Audiophile? How does he differ from a Music Lover? Let's assemble a complete list with the reasons why items are being included on the list.

IMO, this can be a excellent learning opportunity.
Click to expand...

Like i juts said in your other topic

...being an audiophile has to do with attitude. Has to do with the search for the best possible reproduction. And that implies both looking for a good system and looking for the best recordings that exist.
 
Spock said:
Like i juts said in your other topic

...being an audiophile has to do with attitude. Has to do with the search for the best possible reproduction. And that implies both looking for a good system and looking for the best recordings that exist.
Click to expand...

I agree, but others don’t. That’s why I’m trying to get some better perspective - a better longer definition.
 
So far the list includes:

1. Audiophile Attitude
2. Best System within one’s price range
3. Looking for the best recordings that exist
 
4. Concerned about the room acoustics, speaker placement, etc.
5. Concerned about vibration of components
6. Concerned about their own hearing health
 
7. Has a very understanding wife or is divorced.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk
 
TheGemState said:
7. Has a very understanding wife or is divorced.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

:roflmao: In some cases there’s a lot of truth to this one. Glad I have an understanding wife.

Help me to remember to add it to the very end as a PS.
 
jadedavid said:
"A person that enjoys the mechanics of recording and or reproducing music"
Click to expand...

That’s a good one.

So far we have:

1. Audiophile Attitude
2. Best System within one’s price range
3. Looking for the best recordings that exist
4. Concerned about the room acoustics, speaker placement, etc.
5. Concerned about vibration of components
6. Concerned about their own hearing health
7. Enjoys the mechanics of recording and or reproducing music

PS: Has a very understanding wife or is divorced
 
#3 is impeded by #2

I "think" I am in the club but obviously at the lower end of the budget. I am happy with whatever version of recording I have and I actually try not to duplicate same or different media of the same music. I do care about my room but can do nothing much with it. I care about vibration and tackle it on a budget. I care about power and ran a dedicated line and bought aftermarket PCs.

I do enjoy the upgrades I have done and one more coming. It is obvious each time you re-listen to something familiar for the first time with whatever upgrade I have done.

I really don't know if I should be excluded because I don't buy multiple copies of the same music. I also don't have the disposable cash to do it if I wanted to.

Me thinks you are trying to pigeon hole as opposed to the looser use of the word in question. You cannot constrain what a real Audiophile is and that is why the definition fits so many to begin with. I am also a Gearophile and listen to the gear sometimes too.
 
This same thread just started on Audio Asylum. It became a virtual cable discussion.

My comments there were basically,

Like many here my music interest started with AM radio when I was young late 50's early 60's.
As time went by I discovered the music could sound better. Without any real commitment to creating an audio system I looked for ways to make the music sound better.
It just kind of snowballed to keep improving equipment and environment to have better sound to enjoy my music..
The music was the catalyst but making it sound better became the issue of pushing the snowball up hill.

If sound is not really important for music lovers I guess I could just take my glass of wine and set in my car and listen.

So, what does that make me in their world. i really don't care, but I guess I don't understand why we need to be lumped into a category.
 
Let’s have a better definition of a music lover first. No, not all audiophiles are music lovers. I have friends that are still sitting on a few dozen favorite albums they listen to on an infrequent basis. The genre they listen to is also extremely limited and the other music does not appeal. So classic rock a few dozen CDs and few dozen audiophile grade female Divas, that’s where it ends... Is that a music lover? But their systems are pure audiophile grade.
 
For me, it has to do with enthusiasm for the hobby. Who is more the audiophile: the chap who only has $1,000 to spend on an entire system but actively works to buy the best system for the buck or the chap who spends $500,000 on a system because some salesperson tells him (or her) it is "the best" but never actively listens to it?
 
tino27 said:
For me, it has to do with enthusiasm for the hobby. Who is more the audiophile: the chap who only has $1,000 to spend on an entire system but actively works to buy the best system for the buck or the chap who spends $500,000 on a system because some salesperson tells him (or her) it is "the best" but never actively listens to it?
Click to expand...

Sort of like the guy who takes his Mazda Miata to the track every weekend vs a guy with 3 Porsches who has never been to the track? Or a guy with $5k worth of camera body and lenses that takes a few dozen pictures in his backyard vs a guy with an iPhone and a thousand gorgeous Instagram street photography pics? :)
 
The term Audiophile has become a pejorative. Has something to do with Tice Clocks and Brilliant Pebbles. Or so I think.

Music is art.
Audio is engineering.

An audiophile harnesses engineering in the service of art.
 
TheOctopus said:
Sort of like the guy who takes his Mazda Miata to the track every weekend vs a guy with 3 Porsches who has never been to the track? Or a guy with $5k worth of camera body and lenses that takes a few dozen pictures in his backyard vs a guy with an iPhone and a thousand gorgeous Instagram street photography pics? :)
Click to expand...

Enthusiasm versus Possession.
 
To me an audiophile is an audio enthusiast.

Within that broad category you have the music enthusiasts and the gear enthusiasts. I tend to move back and forth within that broad area sometimes focusing on the music and at other times on the hardware and software. To me the context of music is all important.

Regards


.
 
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