Hifi V.s. The music makers

It's a control thing.

If one does make or produce music themselves, but still yearns to control what they hear, I guess its the only thing left to do.

Whereas maybe if one is able to make their own music, there is less urge to control what the work of others sounds like.

Maybe we're all frustrated artistic wannabees to some extent.

They are also looking for absolute "truth" to what they are hearing . no colorations. I ask why we are so determined to alter their work ?

Looking for absolute truth, audiophiles obsessed with toobz and other toyz such as panel speakers, horns that color sound a lot. Audiophile hook-up wires are also deliberately made with excessive reactance parameters so they are able to color the sound and 'make differences' for the arm-leg-worth spent. They don't realize that they're determined to alter musician's and sound engineer work. To keep listening experience same vs. original source, it's sufficient enough using similar class of equipment for the playback including similar studio grade wires.
One who wants to appreciate sound that 'came out' from studio, should probably go into the studio monitors such as KRK or Event and descent pro-grade player.

Czar,

Its not hard to argue that the playback adds an additional circuit, so if quality is same as recorded, then end result degrades X2 that incurred during recording.

The playback has to have some effect on the sound. So may as well be the one that tickles the owners fancy for whatever reason.

If they are engineers or musicians who play Rock, Hip Hop, or other amplified genres, they will have some hearing damage or limitations. In these cases, they are coloring the sound at home with equalizers and such. Also, many in this category will listen using pro-gear at home.

I'll bet that professional classical or traditional jazz musicians do make educated decisions on their choice of audio gear. But I'll wager they are not fanatical or obsessive about getting the absolute sound.

With audiophiles, we love the music and the technology and it's a serious hobby or way of life. Besides, the listener does not have the same setup and equipment as the studio of the original recording, so we make adjustments. And the bottom line is everybody hears differently.