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

Would AudiogoN forum be considered a "very reputable source"? There are no better ones on this topic anyway. The only problem would be that this reputable source is in disarray of opinions.

There has been a lot of "it does not have to be expensive" statements here. Can anyone give some examples that she/he thinks most of the people could recognize? Maybe not $1000 vs $1100 difference, but something more obvious. $1000 vs. $5000 or something in that direction.

I have never heard an item that was more expensive than the other one while sounding worse. I have not heard it on the $200-300 level and I have not heard it on much higher (price) level. It may be bias or whatever else, but it has, so far, been the rule. More expensive sounded better to me.

Please give us examples so we know what we are really talking about.

Although I have not been to the various big audio shows, I have often heard attendees make statements about room comparisons. Some would note that the multi-million dollar room did not sound as good or better than another room with electronics costing much less than 200k. I guess maybe the room acoustics make all the difference ??
I don’t think having either a budget system or multi million dollar system would make someone an audiophile.

I have never heard an item that was more expensive than the other one while sounding worse.

Jesus, really?? Because I have. I’ll just start a firestorm if I start naming labels. I’ve heard much worse, or equal with a wide discrepancy in prices.


I'm talking about gear within similar performance envelopes here.  I'm not comparing a small desktop monitor to a mega speaker.

@glupson

Visit a high end audio show and judge for yourself. 

Knowing your room and what is appropriate for your room is very important. I have three different models (design tiers/cost levels) of a speaker made by one manufacturer. The middle and/lower level models work best in my room. The highest cost model is not appropriate for my room (and given the height of its tweeters and midranges, I doubt audio holography would be possible with them if in a seated listening position). Im sharing this as just a small example of when more expensive does not equate to a better listening experience.

 And as a ‘chicken or the egg’ sort of thing, you need to decide what you are building your system around. Generally, you need to start building your system within the constraints presented to you by your intended listening room. After that what you build your system around will be based on what you want to hear and what gear helps get you closer to that goal. This takes trial and error and will change during the course of your journey (unless you just pay someone to do it for you, but then you don’t really learn as much, but is still totally valid audiophilia). As pieces move in and out of your system you will find areas of your setup that need improvement.  It’s fun, takes time...but when you are reliably  having near-spiritual experiences while listening to music, it’s very rewarding!

I have found that speaker choice and room interaction is most important. Making choices regarding placement of speakers, tweeter height, some form of bass frequency control (back wall bounces will kill your bass!), flooring and general room treatments will have the greatest impact on the listening experience. Amplification is next. Thirdly something that cleans up the power feeding your gear is of great importance.  Balanced power solutions are integral to my system.