How rare is an audiophile


I’ve been extremely busy lately and not had a chance to sit back and listen to music  on my system for a few weeks. I’ve streamed my favorite music in the car and on a small JBL Flip-4 portable speaker; which by the way “punches way above its size class.”  I continued to enjoy music whenever, wherever, and however i can during this “dry spell.”

So now its 5 am Sunday morning. I know i’ll be spending most of the day listening on the JBL when my wife and I drive out to a lake house we bought recently and are furnishing and getting ready for 4 generations to enjoy lake life this summer and for years to come. 
I’ve let my system warm up and hit play on my CD player. I now find myself in total bliss listening to Chris Standing’s newest CD “The Lovers Re-mix Collection.”  The effect of the quality of the sound of the music my wife and i are enjoying right now with a cup of coffee is hard to explain, but it brought literal tears of joy.  

I started thinking, how many people are like us?  What % of the population are audiophiles (whatever your definition of an audiophile is)?

I know the answer is heavily dependent on which country you live in. I live in the US along with ~332,000,000 fellow citizens (please, lets not get political on the meaning of population or citizen). 
Are we the 0.1%ers?  Are there ~332,000 audiophiles in the US?

i’d be interested in what others think about how rare our species is.

ezstreams

For me it’s very hard to tell. I talk to people about music but rarely does the conversation shift over to systems and sources. I like you will listen to music any time and way I can. I am picky and do demand the best quality I can get given the situation. Take my car I upgraded to the mark levenson system and then use an external dac headphone amp run into the aux jack to deliver a great sound in my car. I will say that there are times I am in a couples home and get pleasantly surprised by their systems. I will say is rare but is nice to see there are others out there. Being an audiophile is not like a car collector or watch collector were you can drive and wear in public. It is mostly hidden inside homes if people who don’t flaunt it. 

I have friends who buy records.

I have friends who "spin vinyl".

I have friends who listen to music.

I have one friend who is an audiophile.

In my town of 200K+, I would guess there are less than 20 actual, bona fide tried-and-true audiophiles. Certainly no audio clubs here, though we do have one store that sells high-end gear. They make most of their sales on car stereo.

The definition of an Audiophile : Someone that's spending their time reading this Discussion.