You know you are an Audiophile when:


You have a dedicated audio room.

Your listening chair is in the “Sweet Spot”.

You have sound treatment on your walls.

You spend hours properly placing and tweaking your speakers.

You understand that properly placed speakers will create a 3D sound stage (placing musicians and singers in localized positions… from  left to right… front to back) [Sound-stage]

Your stereo is worth more than your vehicle.

You know that higher end components do a better job of: being less fatiguing to listen to, creating the imaging (sound-stage), representing the instruments more accurately and with more detail, are more involving.

You are intimately aware of the performance and tonal quality of your system, and can describe the results of any changes in the system.

You are aware of how bad the sound is for the first 3 - 4 songs at any live music event.

98 % of the time… when someone cranks their stereo up and says “This sounds GREAT” you cringe. You could list all the ways and reasons why it sounds awful… but you don’t.

When listening to music… you spend a portion of time listening to and exploring the placement of the sounds in the sound stage, and the quality and detail of your system… with your eyes closed.

You become aware of how bad the sound is on some recordings.

You are painfully aware how awful sound systems are at bars and clubs.

You have increased the sound performance of your system through upgrades and tweaks... multiple times.

You are aware of sound reflections in your home, and live music events.

You continue to learn and try new things.

Out of curiosity… you try various things on your system… to see what, and if… there are any improvements… ie: cables, cords, isolation, dampening… etc.

 


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Your neighbor demos his stereo and it sounds pretty darn good for a relative pittance and you wonder what am I wasting my cash on.  Ten minutes later your ears and brain adjust, you are reminded exactly why, compile an extensive list and bite your lip.
Is this just me?
Once my speakers are set up... I never touch them unless it's to dust them with a moist cloth....
You purchase a $25,000 stereo and set it up with custom made, low, fill-able, spiked stands... and although it sounds good... you can hear that it's not quite there. Hearing about power cords... you buy a couple to try out at $250 each. This does not cut it. You purchase a couple more at $500 each. Much better...  but not quite there. A friend is upgrading, and asks if you are interested in trying his $1,500 pc's.
1st one on source... WTF?!
2nd on pre... OMG!3rd on pwr... So... How much do you want for ALL three?  : D
I always liked to play the same files i like the most....But i also use some files to rightfully assess the state of my audio system....

My controls embeddings methods are complex and with my listening i can detect if there is some defects, or something amiss among all the hundreds of modifications implemented .... It is impossible to verify all of them one by one each day.....   :)