Audiophile or Music Lover?

[Butler]

I think I used to be a "audiophile" I would buy the next upgrade or bit of kit to to get the best out of the CD or LP. It got boring to be honest. Maybe I never was?

All the expensive kit has gone except the speakers, so now I think I am a music lover . I search charity shops for CD's/LP's, some often goes back, music I don't like
The real fun for me now is getting an old amp and bringing it back and then listening. So there could be so many categories and sub-categories.

My wife just thinks I'm boring now "Are you tinkering tonight darling"??

 

[Caveman Carl]

So there are music lovers who are not audiophiles. Just as there are audiophiles who are not music lovers. Some are just genuinely impressed by playback rendition, performance, technology and/or design. Not necessary emotionally by the music itself but by how it is rendered. Only intellectually if one's willing to understand that. Seeking only on the 'cold' approach and not on the 'warm' one. Often also serious tweakers if not engineers and designers themselves.

You are right of course, this audiophile vs music lovers is a serious reduction of a more subtle universe. One can be a true audiophile and still be a braggart, only one who actually listens for his own pleasure as well as show off his high-end stuff. Like you can own a Rolls Royce and actually enjoy driving it even when no one sees you... as long as some people see you often enough at other times. There are levels of "audiophileness" so to speak. Regarding collecting, there is more to it than using your stuff, such as the history/trivia/society factoids surrounding certain objects that have no direct relation to their function. Something that happenened during the recording of a record, for example a dog ate the cellist's partitions and he/she had to play by memory or some other more or less tragic story surrounding the publishing of a record (for example). This enters the "stamp collector" category but still has value even though the interest is not strictly love of music per say.

 

[Riboet]

I shouldn't consider myself an audiophile, although other people say I am. Since I got disappointed by the sound and functioning of a modern digital set, I'm in favour of vintage equipment. Does that qualify me an audiophile? To me, it just has to sound right. Being a live audio engineer also, I should say it's about the music: when on a gig, it has to sound right, and the board is my instrument. The same goes for my equipment at home.

 

[genxsheepdog]

I love music; always have; always will