At what price is one considered an Audiophile.

How much does one have to spend on equipment to be considered an Audiophile, if it is truly the later than the music.

$132.79

I believe if you call yourself an Audiophile, you are, just the real desire to be such, makes it so.  I am an audiophile, and have been since 1964, I took apart my parents console and built boxes for the speakers, hung them over my headboard, and ran speaker wires from the back of the console to the speakers, laid in bed and  played records.....I was an audiophile.

For example,

Elac Debut Reference Floorstanders from Andrew Jones - $1400

Rythmik L12 Subwoofer - $629

Yamaha A-S701 integrated amp - $800

Schiit Modi Multibit DAC - $300

Sum Total = 3129 USD ----> The fidelity and musicality of this setup is bonafide audiophilia. For a "music first" audiophile (not a gearhead, not a brand name snob, not a dude in pursuit of audio jewelry or elusiveness, etc), this could be end game.

20 years ago, he would have had to spend magnitudes more for this quality of sound. The above mentioned ballpark would be the price of admission.

The AKG K340 was uncontested flagship headphone put against the best Stax at the times and today...

Cost used for me : 100 bucks...

They contain two new technology never used together again... Kennerton representative said to me when i ask the question , that to recreate these with today standards it will cost too much in research...They are not interested to recreate an hybrid...None of my 9 other headphones beat the K340 because all gave an unnatural sound even the two low cost Stax i owned...I throw them out of my music system...It takes me 6 months of experiments to modify the K340 and optimize them...They are old(45 years old ) they needed it... Their soundfield is natural timbre and speaker-like and they gave me the original recording acoustic to hear...Not bad for 100 bucks...

My amplifier is a Sansui alpha: cost used 300 bucks...It is the top of Sansui history in amplification ...

It is so good i returned my upgrade purchase of a Berning tube amplifier after one hour of listening ...The synergy of the Sansui with the K340 was too good... No comparison...I dont criticize the Berning amp here, i underline the necessary synergy...

Is the Sansui alpha no more high end amplifier ? Yes it is not a low fi product even for today...

Synergy matter sorry in a high end system not only the design ...

Add to that my contemporary dac , a low cost one WITH NO APPARENT lacks in any way.... Cost 200 bucks...Hidizs AP 80 pro...

I consider my audio system high end....total cost near 700 bucks... 😁

i will add my nearfield modified active speakers in their acoustic small room paid 100 bucks 12 years ago, M-Audio AV 40.. I use them for music ONLY after 6 modifications/optimization... Not BEFORE...They reach 50 hertz now instead of the 85 hertz in the specs sheet... I add 17 tubes bundle of straws of different volume and lenght to the porthole... ( many speakers are Hemholtz resonator ) I increase the directivity of the tweeter with a cylinder for my near field listening... And i mechanically decrease the crosstalk level... It is NO MORE the speakers they were in their original box... I put them in a special acoustic corner with diffuser, absorption and reflective surface ratio...

An audiophile must learn acoustic and how to embed gear... This had nothing to do with price tag....

My goal is and was the best system in the world for peanuts price...

I will bragg then about basic knowledge and creativity not about my wallet... 😊

Beware: Right out of the box with no optimization , no modification , no acoustic control, i dont like my system and it is not high end...Now it is....

Acoustics knowledge rule the gear not the reverse...

@hilde45 That's how much I spent on dinner with my daughter and her husband last night, well close.. I go off cheap!😎 Was some really good Korean BBQ with K-Pop blaring in the background. 

$132.97