Should people with no turntable or reel to reel be considered audiophiles?

I remember chasing a particular Porsche..
the conversation was short -
“ prospective owners are expected to demonstrate a significant level of support for the breed as demonstrated by a long and extensive history of Ownership. I think at that point I was at P#5 or 6.

MC - Squire was trusted to maintain our 993 and I certainly miss that

@bdp24 so true !!! But I know of a Vandersteen 7 owner with a good / better / BEST violin....

Robertdid - I'm not creating a divide, just curious as to what Audiogoners believe. Within the range of human hearing, vinyl delivers a CONTINUOUS stream of sound.

Tape/reel to reel is better - that's what they use to capture the music in the studio and it delivers a continuous stream of sound as well. I don't own one do to convenience, cost, etc. and I know that is a compromise. We compromise in all decisions. If I had unlimited space, and money, I'd get one for sure and buy any copies Acoustic Sounds sells. A friend who says he wants to get one says they're like $150 per title. I guess you could tape your records, but what's the point of that? 

I don't think audiophiles appreciate a certain kind of sound. Some like tubes, some solid state, some electrostatic speakers, some drivers in boxes, some analogue verse digital. In many cases that depends on the music they listen to.

It is impossible to replicate a live experience because of many factors, too numerous to name, so no, home audio does not compare. I once spoke with a stereo store owner a while back who himself couldn't believe that someone had purchased a $150K turntable (there are probably more expensive ones now) and his comment was "do you know how many concerts you can go to for that money". Obviously live music is the best, audiophiles just want the best quality sound they can get in their homes.

There is no "better" audiophile. I would say more serious, crazier, committed to spending a bigger % of their total net worth on the hobby, etc. I wasn't a "better" audiophile when I was in college and had a sizable % of my assets in vinyl and equpment. I had more time and spent more of it concerned on expanding my collection and making it sound as good as possible. Yes, people thought I was crazy, just like my neighbors do now when I wash, cleanse, polish and was my car, but they just don't understand passion. 

Mijostyn - audiophiles are not silly, just a bit nuts and passionate about getting music they like to sound as good as possible to their tastes at home. If you want to turn up the treble and bass knobs in your car (or I guess on an old receiver), use an equalizer or DBX in your system, listen to Beats headphones to pump up the bass....whatever floats your boat. And Steve McQueen was cool.

By the way, I almost forgot, I’ve had the opportunity on many occasions this past year to hear a big system, an evolved, grown-up system, for which the Reed Solomon error detection/correction codes were disabled on the CD player. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, is he insane?!

The codes can be disabled AFTER the scattered light problem is eliminated AND AFTER the fluttering disc problem is eliminated. It’s smooth sailing after that. The disc played on this system must be emmaculate, scratch, fingerprint and dust free obviously. It’s a whole new ballgame folks. Anyone in N. Va can go hear it for yourself. Trust me. You will be inclined to drive home as fast as you can and throw whatever system you’ve been ranting and raving about in the nearest lake.

Conclusion, for whatever reasons the Reed Solomon codes hurt the sound. The only reason they are there in the first place is because the whole digital playback system is on the very edge of failure so they threw everything but the kitchen sink at it so it would at least fly a little bit. Kinda like a kiwi bird.

That’s what a stereo system sounds like when it’s all grown up. 🤗

Within the range of human hearing, vinyl delivers a CONTINUOUS stream of sound.

And so is the output of a digital audio device. Within the limits of human hearing, a digital output is far more "continuous" than vinyl. Instead of repeating this statement, which shows you really don’t understand the underpinning of audio/digital audio, why not try to do some research and understand what is actually happening.

There is nothing truly "continuous" about vinyl. Once you throw in noise, the continuity is gone, period, and guess what, vinyl has a lot more noise than digital. Vinyl also has more speed issues (throwing away information), vinyl has very poor channel separation (throwing away lots more information), vinyl has RIAA issues (throwing away information), all added to the noise (throwing away information).

Yet vinyl still sounds good to many. Accuracy of sonic reproduction, and preference for sonic reproduction are not the same thing, but it is important to understand which is which. Some of those inaccuracies in vinyl, lets call them "analog signal processing", could even be good from a perspective of the brain either extracting information or creating a pleasurable but false outcome.

Who cares what Audiogoners believe on this question. It’s like asking people to put up their hand and declare they are a bigot. Is there a positive outcome in that?

Robertdid - I’m not creating a divide, just curious as to what Audiogoners believe.