I am in the opposite crowd, a very sparse crowd...😁
The music lover in me is very critical in his choices...For musical reason....
The Audiophile in me will listen to almost anything or better say any styles or genres ( save commercial music which i confess to hate generally with few exceptions ,classical,jazz,persian,indian etc) because all recording original albums sound optimal in my system/room thanks to basic knowledge applied... My best music is the least studio processed...
Then before being hypercritical about a stylus i had investigated acoustics concepts by experiments and other mechanical and electrical devices control of my own...Hypercritical is a disease not a healthy attitude, using acoustics dont necessitate blinding obsession and gear obsessed focus...
hypercritical without creativity and basic knowledge is obsession...
And you are not wrong about the complete difference between sound and music , music is not acoustic and it is only a mere common place fact for sure; but this psychological opposite attitudes generally are prevalent among people ignoring acoustics concepts and basic controls and these two attitudes only reflect objective ignorance of acoustics associated with gear price tags obsession and focus in the audiophile crowd and for the opposite group associated with music as the only knowledge in musicians and average music lovers crowd...( acoustics with an (s) is not mere room acoustic by the way)
The music lover in me will listen to anything, while the audiophile in me is hypercritical. Think about it. I study every stylus under high magnification before it ever touches a record. How neurotic is that?