You're not a true audiophile unless...


I can't tell you the number of posts I've seen that start with something like this. Why are some people so anxious to qualify this like it's some sort of title? Being an "audiophile" isn't a concrete or objective thing like the citizenship of the country you were born in or being an MA. It's reflective of your hobby or taste, much like calling yourself a "foodie." Can anyone else chime in with some of the more ridiculous qualifications people have come up with for calling oneself an "audiophile?"

medium_grade

Hearing subtle yet dramatic and transformative differences switching out one expensive Ethernet cord for another. 

The definition of an audiophile is when the LOVE of music inspires you to delve even deeper into the mystery of music through the use of artificial reproduction.  For all the infatuation that we have for music, no one that I am aware of has ever managed to explain how and why music affects us as it does.  To have the power to bring that into our daily lives is what inspires one to become an audiophile. 

I'll take my music anyway I can get it. But honestly, I will still prefer to hear it through a good sounding system. Just don't call me an audiofool, I much prefer audiophile.

Ok- you want good tunes that sound great!  Whether from. Headphones, a killer system or somewhere in between 

The term has pretty much been lost to a universal assignment addressing people with more money than brains.  I prefer to consider myself a musicphile because I just do what any actual audiophile should do, and listen to what sounds good to me.  But the majority of people can't come to terms with this because the latest magazine is telling them that they need a brand new piece of equipment that somehow plays audio so differently then every other piece of equipment made over the last 50 years.  I ran into a guy on Reddit who kept going on about how his particular headphones are some of the best ever and his conclusions are backed up by math and experience.  He just couldn't come to terms with the fact that we all hear differently and that his affection for his headphones is not universally shared.  *shrug*