The distinction between audiophile and music lover is one that I first became aware of back in the days I used to read both the music press and the Hi-Fi press.
Not only did the readers of the music press not seem to overly care about their replay equipment but there were very few adverts promoting upgrades.
Some of this was no doubt down to the differing demographics of the readership. I think it's fairly safe to assume that readers of the audio press would tend to be older and also have a greater disposable income.
I know that in my teens it was far more important to build up a collection of LPs than it was to upgrade my system. Only once I'd got down to around 150 LPs did I consider spending money on audio upgrades.
It was unthinkable to throw money at system upgrades when there were still dozens of LPs I'd read about but hadn't heard yet.
Audiophilia nowadays is basically a form of OCD, the stuff of nonsense since perfectly acceptable sound is available for a relatively small investment of time and money nowadays.
If we insist on going beyond tthat then we must be prepared for some seriously tough climbing ahead.
Not only will we be beset by audio shills and snake oil salesmen, we will have to navigate through the jungle of different pressings and mmasterings. Yes, there are sources of information that will be of help [stevehoffman music forum, Parlogram Auctions, Super Deluxe Edition etc] but whatever happened to the days when you happily paid for an album and enjoyed it without this additional layer of potential neurosis?
All of this under a climate of the dreaded loudness wars imposed by an industry that cares not one jot for our audiophile leanings.
