This is a terrific question--it has so many implications! It also opens to door to long winded responses, like this one. Before one can even respond, it begs to define audiophile, which has philosophical implications. For example, does certain behavior define "audiophile" and is that behavior mutually exclusive from "music lover"? Is "music loving audiophile" an oxymoron?
Assuming the characteristics of audiophile and music lover are not mutually exclusive, but individually definable sets, then arguably, the answer is that an audiophile MAY enjoy music (if they exhibit the music lover characteristics as well). Likewise, it's not necessary to enjoy music to be an audiophile. I think there are probably other hobbies that attract interest more to their "process" than to their "result."
I grew up surfing. There were two types of surfers--those that basically spent as much time in the water as possible and those that had excellent gear. The first camp usually rode decent, but beat up boards that they drove to the beach sticking out the back windows of their dad's hand-me-down Cutlass or Plymouth wagon. There were those that had different boards for various conditions, racks on their cars, wet suits, and jobs to pay for it all. Sounds a bit like our hobby--process enthusiasts vs. outcome enthusiasts. BTW, there was a third group that had all the attributes of the first, but never got in the water. They were just posers or "ho-dads" in the parlance of the late 70s (derivation unknown, to me).
Personally, I think I live in both camps. Everything in my rack is at least 6+ years old, with the exception of my SACD/CD player. I believe I'm in this hobby for the music, but certainly enjoy a healthy lust for what's around the corner, hardware wise.
Recently, a friend of mine asked an innocuous question that clarified this whole question for me pretty well. . .
He just bought a Ferrari Modena Spyder and asked me if I wanted to drive it. I politely declined, citing how I'd never be able to forgive myself if I missed a shift or let the rear end get away from me by applying too much power. The truth is that I was scared, but not of accidents.
Rather, I was afraid of what driving this car would do to my psyche--I could see my 'covet' meter hitting eleven. I like cars a lot, and drive a Z4, which a fun car (but no Ferrari by even the most liberal standards of comparison).
I think that high end audio, and Ferrari's are both a bit like porn. . .you start out sneaking a peek at Dad's Playboy cause you like what a naked lady looks like, and the next thing you know, your credit card is boomeranging around the Internet like the nimda virus.
Wow, got a little off topic there. . .I think people who own Ferrari's can be true driving enthusiasts, and people with nine surfboards can really love surfing. Maybe we all love the music, but some of us have enough money of obsessiveness to manifest the extremes. And maybe some don't give a damn about the feeling of dropping down the face of the wave, as long as we look cool doing it and don't wipe out when anyone happens to be looking. So, I guess my answer is Yes, No and Sometimes.
