Music lover or audiophile?

It's always shocking to me to see - when people list when they're listening to on this forum - how plain-jane their musical tastes seem to be.  I see a lot of 'Dark Side of the Moon' and '1812 Overature' vs. more left field things; like, say, Ornette Coleman or Gyorgy Ligeti. 

That made me realize how, for many in the audiophile world, the end goal doesn't seem to be about music, it seems to be about the gear. 

There's nothing wrong with Floyd or Tchaikovsky - I'm just surpised there's not a wider range of musical taste among in the high-end community.  

@briangingrich - I see this was your first post. Welcome to AudiogoN. 

I agree that you see a lot of the typical "audiophile standards" listed for musical choices when you peruse these forums. However, there is also an active and diverse "music" community also on AudiogoN.

If you choose "music" in the "Topics" drop-down menu, and choose the "Popular All-Time" tab, you will find several very active music threads that include a diverse mix of music tastes. For example, you may want to check out these threads:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/whats-on-your-turntable-tonight   - 10M+ views

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/whats-playing-on-your-system-today - Over 7K responses

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/what-are-you-streaming-tonight

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/what-s-in-your-cdp-tonight-the-minority-report

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tune-of-the-day

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/jazz-for-aficionados

So, for everyone that says "It's all about the music", come join us on the music related threads. Dive in. The water's fine.....

I agree with those of you who are leaning toward the idea that being an audiophile is a means to the end of finding the most pleasing sound you can afford, because you ARE a music lover.

However, unlike folks like jond, I rarely listen to music in my car or on the go because the quality does not compare to my home set-up. I guess that means I am a different kind of music lover? Or maybe, people like jond are true music lovers whereas people like me rely on their audiophelia to find a standard of music reproduction necessary in order to enjoy the most pleasing sound experience? So does a true music lover love music regardless of how faithfully it is reproduced? Or does being a music lover implicitly mean you enjoy the pure expression of music - by pure I mean no artifacts, no crowd noise, etc.? Which leads me to another conundrum: can you really be considered a music lover if you prefer the "live music" experience (and a similar reproduction) over the isolated sound of the instruments and the performers' voice(s)?

This is more confusing than I thought it would be!

There is a difference but I suspect that most audiophiles are music lovers to some degree but I'm not so sure that a music lover is always an audiophile.   One is about the accuracy of reproduced music and the other is simply the love of music whether it is reproduced or live.  I don't see a problem with being both or being just one.  

Do you?

An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. ... Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting.

A music lover is: One who loves music

I personally enjoy the pursuit of recreating music that I love in my own living space.

Sam 

Having nice gear let’s me enjoy the music more. Hearing more of what the players are doing with their instruments makes me feel closer to the performance and to what their intentions were when making it, and nicer gear maximizes that capability. I don’t enjoy listening to the same jazz piece as much through my phone on a plane as I do listening at home though it’s the same great tune!