At what price is one considered an Audiophile.

@deep_333 I do think guys are more motivated toward the gear aspect of audio. However with steaming available I listen more than I ever had. Back in the 1990's     I built a system modeled after Cory Greenberg's (stereophile) poormans hi end rig and it seemed no matter how many cd's I bought I never seem to have enough to listen to that wasn't tired. So here I am 30yrs later just loving the endless amount of songs through streaming and with a better rig. But my live in girlfriend thinks I should spend more on our house which I admit is more practicle. She will always mention it if there is a song playing that she likes but will never mention how good it sounds through my system.

You start with the room 1st. I built a room within a room in a custom house and the room plus treatments were $60,000, before spending 1 dime on electronics. When you are designing a custom home with a custom audio room, it’s cheaper to do things in the beginning than to retrofit it. I have friends that spent more than that on their rooms.

As for equipment, money spent does matter. Everything in the audio stream matters: the microphones, the cables for the mics, the artists amps/guitars/piano, mixers, the recorders, just before it gets recorded on the medium. Engineers do not use $200 pioneer reel to reels to record a song. 
 

I don’t think it matters if you like music or you like the equipment, if you just like the music, get you a pair of beats headphones and call it a day. If you want the best sound quality possible, then it’s going to cost you. $500 speakers modified to the hilt will still sound like $500 speakers, same goes for amps/dacs/etc

the famous chick with the Strad, we own the same speakers and amplifiers…. one of us must be defective….i volunteered…..

get out more…… it’s a big world…unless you like banning books…

We did an article based on a quote that I heard at AXPONA this year from an industry executive who said "Anybody with a pair of earbuds can be an audiophile". 

I had to run with that concept as it is the core of what we are doing at FutureAudiophile.com

Then: ARC SP-11, D-250 servo, Acoustat 2+2 med, full blown Linn and quite a few high priced peripheral equipment. Total then about $40g Can.
Now: Marantz 1040, Mission speakers, Technics 1400 Mk2, Shure M97x. All used except cartridge. Total: $750 Can. including NAD cd and old iPhone. It sounds great!
After 35 years or so I just lost interest in the “hobby” and in the endless spending. But not in the music.

Still an Audiophile … Don’t need extravagant set ups to enjoy music.