Can the level of pleasure derived from music be measured?

By definition, a phenomenon is measured whenever numbers are attached to manifestations of that phenomenon.

Unfortunately, that process is amongst the most intellectually difficult enterprises known to man. The trouble is, everyone thinks he can do it.

Speaking crudely, there are four levels of measurement: nominal (in which different numbers represent different names), ordinal (in which bigger numbers represent relatively bigger effects), interval (in which the ordinal property holds and the difference between 1 and 2 is the same as the difference between 101 and 102), and ratio (in which the interval property holds and zero represents none of the property).

Each level of measurement determines which statistics are appropriate. Again unfortunately, as a former university statistics teacher, I can assure you that this is rarely taught, not even the crude and vastly oversimplified version above. This is a serious problem for society as a whole.

So yes, it can be easily done. Correctly done? Only a few could reasonably attempt it. Hint: if you've never heard of Hoelder's Representation Theorem, please don't bother.

Very difficult, unless you finesse the problem by tying your measurement to a known physical measure such as time.

An anthropologist set up a boom box in a jungle and invited some villagers to come and listen. When he played Mozart, they wept. When he played disposable music, they left.

All he had to do was measure the time it took for individuals to leave, and he would have solved the OP's problem.  

@terry9 cool and encouraging

Thanks @macg19 . Glad it was useful to someone.

@frogman

Not entirely sure what you mean by “a true audiophile hierarchy” and why one would want to establish it. Having said that and since the question deals with audiophiles and “pleasure derived from music”, a simpler and more reliable test would be to put an audiophile in front of two doors each leading to a different room. In one room is a violinist playing Bach (?), or a Blues singer with guitar, or a…..In the other room is a large collection of High End audio gear not even plugged in. Which room does the audiophile go into first and how long does he stay there before going into the other room….if ever?

Not enough information provided in your hypothetical scenario to make a judgement.

If I only have a choice to walk into either room, for that single instance, it would be the live musician. Not even a moments pause to decide.

Not all, or even the majority, of audiophiles fit into the common stereotype, i.e., audiophiles get more enjoyment from the gear, than they do the music.

I am an audiophile. But the music comes first. The gear is only a vehicle for me to enjoy my music.

And to the OP’s question. I would bet at this point in neuroscience, a Functional MRI could get a pretty good idea about the level of activity in the pleasure center, while people listen to music.

And it looks like the NIH has something to say about it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC58814/