At what price is one considered an Audiophile.

It's a made up term.  It is simply people who enjoy listening to music where the equipment is an important part of the experience that hopefully improves their enjoyment of it, but for some, it's a never ending chase to improve that end and that end is never satiated.  For some, it's a fun hobby, they get real enjoyment from trying, and using different equipment.   You can love music and not be an audiophile, or someone who has an audio system built around a pair of $100,000 speakers may simply want something nice and has never heard of Stereophile, HiFi News, or even Audiogon or Care.  His passion might be cars or art or anything.  I have one acquaintance whose system is so over the top, stuff that I have never seen or heard of b-4 meeting him, never reads the journals.  He just likes what he likes.  Another who owns JBL Paragons supported by, Jadis, Futterman OTL's, and Marantz Nines really doesn't know much about the stuff he owns and learned about them from visits to Japan of all places.  

@jacobsdad2000 I think one of the qualifications is that you are a man, I don't know any women that fall prey to this addictive habit/hobby of ours. Maybe transgenders do but I don't know of any.

@grh1958 you had to go there? 

 @jacobsdad2000 Sorry and I don't mean anthing bad about anbody and at this site I have never noticed (and not saying there isn't) any obvious females talking about audio gear. But I do suspect behind every audiophile that is married or lives with a women will get the LOOK 🙄when spending money on thier Audio System.

By education and tradition but also by physical genetical and biochimical design woman are tailor made and conditioned to passionnately mind about children and their male possible  consorts and men are designed and conditioned also to be occupied by objects which may help dominate and help  the tribes survival ... We have all in each man a feminine part of the soul and vice versa in the case of woman for sure...This is a balance between these two genetic but also symbolic forms in each of us ...

But in general woman loving music are not focussed so much on gear variation as men with similar interest ...And in general man loving sound are not so much focussed also on music for its own sake as much as woman with the same inclination ..

Ideologies opposing these simple general facts are just that, ideologies...