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

Stereophile magazine is purchased by 70,000 people.  I believe that's a good measure of the number of audiophiles.   

fyi- personalized plates on my daily driver -- "LUV HZ"

I got a "two-fer" here. A "tribute" to my first wife, AND a statement of my passion for (just about) anything that makes noise. Must be an audiophile?

I know four. What does that say about me?

An audiofile is someone who, regardless of budget/means loves tinkering with audio equipment and the environment it resides in to better the listening experience.

Not all stereo lovers necessary even have equipment but no matter if they are following thier passionate interests then that makes them bonafide.

As for numbers with systems who preen and listen. If it were possible to know, then we’d know. Cube Nordost units sold?

 

I was already an audiophile at the age of 7 but I never knew that or even the meaning of the word until much later in life. Listening to music at such a young age felt like a source of life force to me. A very fun life source

In 5th grade when a friend gave me a cd as a gift, I was over the freaking moon.