Are you an "Audiophile"?

[Puffin]

I have been into this Malarkey for probably too long. I have put together many systems over the years with many different components of varying price (Quality?).

I went to many Hifi Shows in 80s and 90s and occasionally heard stuff that I thought "wow" that is blinding, the rest....well probably competent, but not at those prices, and not listening to the usual "show" music. I would come home and play some tunes and think....Mmmm this is good enough for me.

I assume that those as long in tooth as me know what they think constitutes good sound and know what they like. Am I an Audiophile because I strive to make the music acceptable to my taste? Or am I just a music lover that demands that the music I play sounds right to me?

[Firebottle]

I guess the latter Rob, sounding 'right' has a lot to go for it.

[Pigmy Pony]

Yeah, I think the key words are "music lover", where the system is there to play the music, rather than the music being there to put your system through its paces.

[Paul-H]

What is can Audiophile

He will be different to different people.

One view is that an Audiophile is a special person with extra special hearing who is constantly striving to improve the sound of their system, either through constant upgrades to their hardware or periferals like connecting or power leads, they do come over as being never actually satisfied as they constantly look for a weakness in their setup to change

Another view is that they are just ritch showoffs who like to boast how much they just spent on this or that and how huge the improvement was. They think nothing of spending thousands on a mains cable as long as they can boast about the huge improvement it brought.

There are other types but one common point connects them all and that is they tend to listen to the equipment more than the music.

It's their choice and their money do good luck to them in their quest

To many they are just Audiophools but they are easy to spot and easy to ignore if you so wish

Hat coat door

[southall-1998_mk2]

I have no idea.

S.

[Flo]

I believe we all have a certain sound we hear in our heads, that voice is a constant that we try and replicate in our living room. That’s why no two systems are alike, audio dna. Aristotle said what we perceive as real is the imperfect reflection of a perfect reality Else where [heaven].
I think to create the ideal full range sound is expensive, ie living voice, so most designers and fans concentrate on getting one element [tone, speed, dynamics] perfect and the others close.
I’ve known friends with mega systems [100k+] that own a fraction of my record collection but are blissfully happy and never even read a hifi site. They also tend to buy fit and forget. I envy them.

[mad-moon]

Yes...we all are...we have good quality gear that gives us the crisp clear sound we are looking for...sometimes it's a long journey to get there..and sometimes we strive to eek just that little bit more from our kit, but when you get there the striving turns in to being sideways moves...when that happens you are there and it's time to enjoy the tunes....Tis a wonderful and rewarding pastime..enjoy people...

[Jac Hawk]

An audiophile in my opinion is someone who strives to recreate as close as possible the music as it was played / recorded, so that would in my opinion be everyone that frequents sites like these regardless of the amount of money they have spent on their system. Everything is subjective though so what I might consider to be perfect is totally crap to someone else, I guess what I’m trying to say is an audiophile cares about the quality of the sound and invests time and money until he’s happy, whereas normal people get the same enjoyment out of the music be it out of the speaker on their phone or through a crappy set of earbuds

[Flo]

I’m lucky enuf to have seen hundreds of bands [inc many starting big careers, elbow, chilli peppers, snow patrol, primal scream] at one of the best small venues in uk, [ Wedgewood rooms] hundreds of those I’ve seen I’ve got on record. 17 Glastonburys and numerous womads have given me rounded tastes, and experience of what a band really sound like. Also had numerous friends in bands so spent many bored hours in studios.
To recreate the sound of a drum kit esp cymbals, or soprano at close range would pop an eardrum, a sax at full tilt in a small room is awesome, and virtually impossible to recreate. So hi fi is there to recreate a facsimile that is domestically practical and mimics the recordings intention if not the exact original event.

[spendorman]

No, I'm an Audophool