Music lover or audiophile?

If I did not love music, I would not care how well it is recorded nor would I care about getting the best sound I can from my equipment to listen to it.  It is true I am never satisfied because most recordings do not sound all that great. And the ones that do are hindered by the shortcomings of my system.  

Most hobbies have two types of participants. One goes for quantity and the other goes for every increasing quality.   For example, when I used to restore cars for a hobby, I would strive for my next project to improve upon the previous project.  

 When I was around 10 years old, I went to a friend's house whose dad had a decent stereo. I was shocked how good music could sound. I was hooked. But I started out years earlier playing music on a little portable record player. I loved music since I can remember (age 3).  And I have been striving for better sound since I have been making a living and affording to do so. 

Why in the hell would I give a damn if people think I am an audiophile?  I have been called much worse. I proclaim who I am. I AM an audiophile. Others may consider it a pejorative so what?  I do not.  If I could magically hear my music collection via telepathy and not require equipment, I would.  My goal is to have equipment that totally gets out of the way of the musical experience. It is a mean to an end, not an end in itself. 

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!