are audiophiles different than non audiophiles ?

There are a lot of people who like good sound but are not obsessed with it and will never draw the label audiophile.

They are as happy with their sound as anyone. That makes them as good as anyone in a sound quality sense. Maybe they are also smarter as well since they care and seem to have solved their sound quality problems rather than drawing them out forever.

Some people just like to play with gadgets. I suspect many audiophiles fall into this category. That's fine, but playing with gadgets does not necessarily mean better sound quality (just different) nor more satisfaction from listening.

Audiphiles smarter? Maybe than average as a group. IT's a hobby that requires some knowledge to get a handle on, but so do many otehr hobbies.

I have never met a professional musician, who would fall into the audiophile category. That's a peculiar contradiction.

"I have never met a professional musician, who would fall into the audiophile category"

I haven't met one either but there are examples, how about Keith Jarrett? I would tend to agree that most don't since live and recorded are two different things that can't be reconciled by a musician when listening to a "audiophile" or "high end" system. Just a hunch.

Orpheus, plenty of successful musicians buy high end gear - just look at the user list of many audio equipment manufacturer's.

RW the ".", is not a period, it's a full stop! We on the other side of the pond invented the language, sort of, so we get to give the punctuation correct names.