Why Don't More People Love Audio?

Face it, one, you have to have more of a love for music than most AND you MUST have more than a bit of OC behavior in your personality.
Perfectionist might sound better but same difference.

Biggest difference among audiophiles themselves is some compete with others, some with their own inner scale.
No judgements implied(really).

I think there are multiple types of audiophiles. Certainly when I first got into music reproduction and later into stereo, I was more of a poor guy who loved jazz and much classical music. In undergraduate school in Chicago with WFMT being a local station, I had great classical music. I could go to several jazz clubs when I had any money. I would have to say that I was mainly a music lover. But going to graduate school and remaining poor changed that. I had to gain my own sources for good music, namely records and had to get components that were cheap, I built Heathkits and Dyna units. When money came more ample, I sought better gear.

One day walking past an audio store, I heard wonderous music and went in. There I heard the Infinity ServoStatics driven by ARC tube equipment. I bought no part of my system because of looks and I lived with the Servos for five years. I even sought the ServoStatic 1As and once got close to buying them, but that is not my story now.

Clearly I was on a quest for realism. This got to be very troublesome when I taught on Long Island and earlier at UCLA. All sorts of exotic equipment was around. But I really didn't get ahead in my quest. Music was serving an important role at that time as I worked toward tenure. I was a music lover audiophile. But I sought a full frequency response for playing symphonic reproduction. I also learned to again love tube sound.

Then perhaps four or five years ago, I heard examples of good music where the performance sounded real! I think once you have experienced this, a music lover realizes that he or she can experience great performances. This has become an abiding interest of mine.

So I think there are three types of audiophiles. Stage I is loving music and replacing hearing it live with cheap audio equipment. Stage II is loving music that is well reproduced. And Stage III is great reproduction and realism.

Phd, given my experience with the top High Fidelity Cables and power cords and with the Tripoint Troy Signature and their Thor SE cables, this has been very expensive for me. But I also remember that long ago the H-Cat preamp and amp gave a very nice holographic image. I still have both in my system in NM. They may be coming back into business, but time will tell.

I should add that I am not saying that the H-Cat was the equal to what I'm getting today, but it did start me thinking that vocalists and musicians were in the room with me. Now, however, outside my listening room with a recording of a piano, sounds convincingly like the real thing.

What is striking is that cables, power cords, grounding units now represent more than half of the cost of my system! I must say that last night was thrilling. I don't know where you live but if you are in or near Texas, or if you ever want to drive up from a Houston airport, come on by an experience this.

I can put together a system that sounds as real as a symphony orchestra in full cry for 10K .
A jazz trio for half that.
Madonna for a hundred bucks.