Why do some think "music" (not gear, trading, etc.) is the ultimate end?

Mmm, now that's an interesting and compelling comparison....the pursuit of excellence in cooking vs. the reproduction of ones' music...*s*...

One is the daily need for sustenance...basic through luxurious.
The other, a need to feed a different form of hunger that also has its' own span of satiation....;)

Both exhibit a 'range' of means towards their ends:
-Cooking over an open fire, the fare suspended on a green stick....to a 'full boat'  kitchen, with the 'hi-end' stove, fridge, utensils, et al...
-The bedside clock radio 'kick-starting' ones' day through the monoblock amps driving 2001 monolith-scaled speakers, the entire affair rivaling the cost of a very well-appointed Mercedes....*L*

Both fill a need....but existence precedes essence.

One can live without music, after all.  A somewhat bleak future to contemplate in a dystopian someday, but I suspect even the most jaded audiophile stripped of the 'mega-system' would pick up sticks and tap out a rhythm to scratch the itch while bbq'ing the days' catch....

"Life Before the Comet" hits the Top Ten of Fireside Chants....coming to a drum circle near you! *wry chuckle*

It all started out that way, after all....and I find contemplation of When The Music Started.... and Why....interesting on multiple levels...

When did the sound of rocks and sticks with early versions of 'raps' and yowls give way to...perhaps something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRg_8NNPTD8

...sans the amplification, of course....;)

Obviously, the emotional 'drive' to create and experience 'music' has deep roots within the human experience, considering that it's existence is pretty universal....at least, on this tiny rock in the void....

...and the noise kept the wolves away....*G*

All in fun, J

  I am not sure why the angst over the original question.  For me it is simple.  If I had to choose between hearing the music I love on a less than optimal system, vs having to listen to music that I dislike on a great system, I'd pick the former
every time.  Fortunately I don't have to make that choice, and certainly I enjoy how great gear enhances that music.   Now, if there really are people that appreciate great gear but don't like music, I am not going to stop them, although I would be puzzled by their choice

For me it is simple. If I had to choose between hearing the music I love on a less than optimal system, vs having to listen to music that I dislike on a great system, I’d pick the former
every time.

@mahler123
Nice to hear your thinking on this, but that’s not the original question. The original question is why do some dismiss the love of gear by the tactic of making music an ultimate end. Your answer is to a different and much easier question -- but I'm still glad you posed it because it opens more doors.

Listening music is a spiritual endeavour, like mathematics or poetry...

Listening music not only give enjoyment, like collecting cadavers when you are a good sniper, or female bodies if you are a pimp,or cars or gear or postal stamps; listening music can and must transform the soul coming from the spirit....

Then audiophile hobby is not essentially collecting gear, not even implementing the rightful controls of the 3 embeddings for any audio system, it is listening music first with the wish to listen to it with the optimal sound experience possible....


Music is more than only pastime enjoyment, it can be also therapeutical, and it can liberate our limited senses and by a cenestesic miracle propel our soul to the spirit world where all our senses merge in an interpenetrating one....



« At the end music is no more incoming waves of sound»- Groucho Marx thinking about the deaf Beethoven

For me its about enjoying music that I like to the maximum possible level. If I could listen to every song I play at a concert (in a good venue) with non-animal fans showing up, that's nirvana. Unfortunately, many of my records are by artists that are no longer with us, so it's impossible. Other than that, it's how can I come as close to that experience as possible? Most live albums are not recorded well, but when you find them....BINGO. Otherwise well recorded, mastered and pressed studio albums will have to do. 

To do that you need an excellent stereo and high quality records (some would say streaming or RTR or HiRez DLs or SACDS or whatever, but that's not the point here) to come as close to that experience as possible.

To the hardware fetishists/collectors, insanely obsessed tweakers, record collectors (or should I say investors) who never play or even open them, constant upgradeitis victims with monopoly money to blow (or sadly not like I was in college), or those who listen to the same thing over and over to hear "the wire" and not the music, I'm not going to criticize you. It's a free country (and mostly free world) so whatever floats your boat. BTW, at times I can be all of the above.

I will mention that my son loves music (he is out of college and off the payroll, so he is in control of his finances), and likes a lot of the music that I like +rap, and just got his first hifi system. It's an $8 speaker he bought at Walmart to play music from his iPhone. He asks me why I care so much about the sound - he can hear the music just fine and it worked great when the had a few people over. I recently sold an older amp and preamp I was saving for him because I knew it was hopeless (he knew I had it for him and all he needed was a source box and speakers and didn't care)....If he does ever become interested in music sound quality and wants to spend judiciously, he can go explore some used equipment. And he has someone to help him.