You are very confused. I mean that literally. You jumped from audiophiles to music. Component selection, system building, listening evaluation, and music appreciation are related but very different subjects.
Assuming for the moment what you are saying is audiophiles buy components based on specs and looks, we definitely have some of those here. We also have some, yours truly being the preeminent example, who value listening impressions over all.
Search through my posts. Highly recommended, highly educational. There you will find repeatedly stated the only two specs worth consideration are speaker sensitivity and phono cartridge output. Even then those specs are used not to select components but as a filter to remove unsuitable components from consideration.
Specifications are near useless for the simple reason so little is understood about the relationship between sound reproduction and hearing. We have no measurement of soundstage imaging focus, width, or depth, yet many of us hear them easily.
As for forums and reviews, we have our share who misuse them both. We also have some such as myself who use them to help learn about and evaluate components. This in itself is a skill, and highly prized at that. If you can learn to do it well you can accomplish much. I have not been in a store to audition or otherwise in years. Yet look at the system. No one in their right mind would say it is there based on looks! Read the comments. They are complimentary in the extreme- about the sound quality. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367
In short your "hypothesis" to the extent we can glorify it as such, bears at best a tenuous relationship with reality.
Assuming for the moment what you are saying is audiophiles buy components based on specs and looks, we definitely have some of those here. We also have some, yours truly being the preeminent example, who value listening impressions over all.
Search through my posts. Highly recommended, highly educational. There you will find repeatedly stated the only two specs worth consideration are speaker sensitivity and phono cartridge output. Even then those specs are used not to select components but as a filter to remove unsuitable components from consideration.
Specifications are near useless for the simple reason so little is understood about the relationship between sound reproduction and hearing. We have no measurement of soundstage imaging focus, width, or depth, yet many of us hear them easily.
As for forums and reviews, we have our share who misuse them both. We also have some such as myself who use them to help learn about and evaluate components. This in itself is a skill, and highly prized at that. If you can learn to do it well you can accomplish much. I have not been in a store to audition or otherwise in years. Yet look at the system. No one in their right mind would say it is there based on looks! Read the comments. They are complimentary in the extreme- about the sound quality. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367
In short your "hypothesis" to the extent we can glorify it as such, bears at best a tenuous relationship with reality.