Audiophilia: Is it the pursuit of audio excellence or just a desire to tinker.

....always have had a ’bent’ for technical things, but have either been employed at depicting, designing, and creating physical objects that had a specific concept and use....

Varied from the architectural ’crafty’ through current large scale ’hewn objects’ for the delight and play of children; yours, your angel grandkinder, and the neighbors’ bratty bunch....😏

Audio, other than in the enjoyment of music of many stripes ’n stars and logotypes, has been a ying to the yang...or the reverse, if I’ve got the polarity wrong... ;)

ADD, OCD, nightowl noddles, cast-off silk purses into dB-inducing devices:

"DIY’ng the improbable with not-so-much of such."

If there be my quest, I'm still on compass to Avalon.....

I had just made a post in the Home Theater section that dealt with problem solving.  I find it much more necessary to figure out what goes wrong in a system that complicated.  There is some satisfaction when I solve the issue but it isn’t my idea of a fun way to spend an hour.  
  Two channel audio isn’t about solving problems.  It is how can I make an improvement.  This will occasionally be certain tweaks like speaker positioning but more typically involves auditioning a component in the system and trying to figure out if it’s better (as opposed to just being different) than the previous.  When I had a long term relationship with a dealer  (who wasn’t afraid to let me know when I was full of it, even if it cost him a sale), it was kind of fun.  Just getting something shipped over the Internet, and sending it back if it was unsatisfactory, is a pain for multiple reasons.  So my changes have become rare.

A true passion will often encompass different areas of our personalities. 

We will want to indulge all of our senses, as well as our sensibilities. We trade in profound nuances! Obsessive tendencies are probably common. It is difficult to put tangible goals on a desire to experience. Some talk of 'endgame' gear, to me that doesn't compute, unless they mean by death, which is probably when I'll stop trying to pursue better sound.

the answer:

audiophilia is the pursuit and active enjoyment of audio excellence.

tinkering is one of many activities, practices one undertakes in pursuit of audio excellence.

like every other means of advancing quality of sound and performance, one can get enchanted with, stuck on and lost in this activity.