An Audiophile is Anyone Who Loves Audio Regardless of Monetary Status. Agree?

@erik_squires : "Price is a poor predictor of performance."

Erik, I disagree, a little. I think it would be better to say that price can be a poor predictor of performance. In most things I see price and performance as a fairly bell shaped curve across the board. And yes, I do think there is a steep fall-off toward the highest price ranges. (I'm speaking generally here, not just about audio). 

But in light of this discussion even if you are exactly right, the problem is the price range we are discussing. For the average man on the street with more than one priority in his life even at the low end of what most of us here would reasonably good quality he would be stymied. 

I don't know what motivated the OP to share his opinion or ask if we agree. But I do not agree that being an audiophile is solely a matter of how you feel about music or sound quality. To me that's like claiming to be a race car driver because you are enthusiastic about racing and feel like a race car driver.

So again, the answer is no. Not everyone can be an audiophile. Even if they want to be. 

In that analogy, the musicians and producers are the race car team. The rest of us are just observers in the stands.


Otherwise, audiophiles are reduced to consumers of a particular type of product. How miserably impoverishing that POV is to me.


"Sorry you lost your house Frank, but hey, I don’t have to listen to your miserable take on cables since you no longer matter." is not a place I want to be.


As I posted in another thread, in the late 1950's, early 1960's audiophiles were not consumers, they were inventors, innovators, and enthusiasts.  DIY built this hobby.


Lets make this a big tent with room for different points of view and needs, as opposed to an expensive one.

"Otherwise, audiophiles are reduced to consumers of a particular type of product. How miserably impoverishing that POV is to me."

Sad as it may be, but that is the reality for most of the people out there. Unless you actually build your own equipment.

Do we actually believe that people spending more than $4k cannot be audiophiles? Or people spending more than $10k are all fools? Have no knowledge or any understanding of how "Hi-Fi" should sound. Lock those fools away, don't talk to them, don't listen, they are fools anyway. Besides that, we have all heard equipment costing in excess of $100k, and none of it sounded right.... How stupid they are.... (of course, we conveniently preclude the option that all of the above is stupid as well) Actually....we could go even further, establishing rules, let's say up to $ 2k for the complete high-end set up -> absolute audiophile, up to $3k still audiophile, but becomes questionable, the limit is at $4k, above that, ban them from the audiophile community.... 

Luckily, I really don't care too much how other's "judge" me, I spend many hours enjoying music the way I like it, in a room I've build with my own two hands, with equipment in it which I have worked for (I'm certainly not rich, so yeah, I have to save money for the equipment I have). Have enjoyed music for more that half a century now, and hope I get another 20-30 years to continue enjoying it...cheers

@douglas_schroeder 

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