Music lover or audiophile?


I think you have to decide, are you a music lover or audiophile?  I know the majority will say, both.
 I’m not so sure though. The nature of audiophilia is to get in there and fiddle with the tools, like any other hobbyist.  The difference in our hobby though is that presumably, our ultimate goal is to have the best musical experience we can get. The hobbyist is never really finished. The manipulation of the materials is the fun. The music lover, however, wants to get the most out of that esthetic experience.  
By continually plying materials, the audiophile is on an endless quest for better sound.
 After years of this quest, I’ve decided I can be a music lover or an audiophile.  I’m happy listening to my system now the way it is.  So, I’ve decided to be a music lover once again.
128x128rvpiano
I'm a musician, and it seems the ration of audio geek musicians to musicians who care about their hifi rigs is about the same as the general public. Blanket comments about what musicians think are silly, as based on my experience they're utterly diverse. Perhaps Inna needs to get out more.
I must admit, despite what I’ve previously said, that lately I’ve been able to get into the music better with good sounding recordings. 
In fact, a record is an artifact in itself.  Often, a good performance can be  under appreciated because of bad sound and conversely, a so so performance might be more attractive because of good sonics.
My original post was written because of my proclivity to getting too caught up in the sonics.
If I keep changing hardware, it is hard to enjoy music.

I had not changed any major audio components between 2013 to July 2018 except adding inexpensive Cocktail Audio X12 music server.

But during last one year period, I had done major renovation except the speaker (Lansche4.1 which I will keep for my life) spending 50k$.

Today I pulled the trigger for end game headphone system of Stax 009S and KGSSHV Carbon amp.

I will have two years of break and just enjoy music
Indeed, music lover first, audiophile second.
What came first?
Music, of course!