Should people with no turntable or reel to reel be considered audiophiles?

Rconk - its not about the brand - its about the car (says a self described Porschephile- although not a serious one-those guys only drive air cooled). I had an M3 (and other BMWs before that). I loved that car, but when it was time to change, BMW didn't offer the M3 and then blew it with the replacement that was a disaster.

Once I tried a 911, I said I would drive it until I couldn't get out of it. New Vette looks pretty good....but I have to have a sunroof, so that doesn't;t quallfy (TTop and Cab only). Thankfully I still can, can't say that about the NSX unfortunately which is better handling/more fun than the 911 in handling but nobody thinks about it because Acura can't market it.

Perhaps sound quality in cars is underrated. Modern automobiles should have a reasonably good signal to noise ratio with the windows up 🔝 ROLLS ROYCE would be even better, especially with the oil-filled suspension system for mechanical isolation. Battery power, good acoustic space and crossover-less speakers - Voila! Audiophile grade SQ.

Of course. It's a ridiculous, snob-driven question. The satisfaction for the audiophile is the sound of his or her best liking, not the media he or she plays to achieve it. Having been through and gotten rid of many tables and one hundred times as many albums, I find good quality digital sources played through with my S.E.T. or Push-Pull amps to suit just fine. This coming from the previous owner of a very high end salon that carried both analog and digital.

Just fine is not good enough for many of us.

We want as good as possible for a given amount of $$ investment.