What do/did you do for a living?

I'm an audio engineer.  I spent the first 20 years of my career producing music, but migrated to post production sound over the last decade.  The reason I got involved with professional audio was a love of music.  I played in a band in college in the early-mid '80s, and when I graduated the economy was in the tank.  I had some very limited recording gear and my band's rehearsal space.  The rest is history.  One of my most favorite things about this job is that I get to buy toys... Toys like microphones and amplifiers and speakers.  I've always been an audiophile of sorts, but in 2019 when I set out to buy my first new set of main monitors in almost 20 years I became intrigued by JBL's flagship M2s. I realized they had found more homes in audiophile systems than pro studios.  I assume it's owing to there being a larger market among audiophiles- there are simply more of them than there are studios.  In the end I bought 3 of them and couldn't be happier.  I have nearly a million dollars tied up in my business, about 60% of which is the studio building itself.  35% is audio/ video/gear and musical instruments and 5% is office equipment and furniture.  The one thing about audiophilia that flummoxes me is the amount of credibility afforded to the most minor tweaks and the retail price of components and cables while proper room design, construction, and treatment often gets little more than a passing mention. Some things I just don't get.  Being intimately familiar with how recordings are made gives me a different perspective on what a playback system ought to be able to do.

I drive a freight train but I was an electronic tech for the US NAVY then as an audio tech, installer and salesperson for some audio stores and I still do that on a part time basis, which provides me an opportunity to upgrade my gear at less than retail.

I'm a software engineer.   My system was about $10K, but since around March this year, with the COVID-19 lockdown, I've added $30K to my system.   I bought everything online except for my new speakers which cannot be sold online.  Thank goodness for retailers like Audio Advisor and Crutchfield, which offer great return policy.   I cannot see myself spending thousands of dollars on hifi gears without testing it at home.   I can never trust myself auditioning gears in a hifi store.  There are just too many variables involved, and it is almost guaranteed that what you hear in the store will not be what you hear at home.

I never considered myself an audiophile, and I don't think I'll ever.  There are just too much engineering and science behind this stuff that I don't understand.   One thing for sure though, this hobby is a slippery slope.  Money just get sucked out of you like no tomorrow, and you can never be 100% happy with what you have, and always looking for the next upgrade.

Anyway, I digressed.  Another question I think might be interesting to ask this forum is how many men and women are into this hobby.   My guess is probably 90% men and 10% women, but I can be wrong.

Ill make a list and tell you ASAP!!

People's hobbies always seem crazy to others in terms of the time and/or money they put into it. What gives one person pleasure may not make any sense to another.

I have a client who is an actuary and a life-long singer songwriter. He said, "I would be embarrassed if l told you what I spent recording my albums." That's his hobby.

That being said, I am a psychotherapist and executive coach. My hobbies entail multiple expensive purchases of guitars, audio equipment, bicycles and cameras.