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Music Lover , Audiophile or Both ?

I

Irwin

Active Member
Recently I read a statement on another site : A music lover listens to music on their system . An Audiophile
listens to their system through their music . Made me think about my listening habits . Lately I've been using
an assortment of Digital Audio Players , IEM'S and Headphones . I realize that for me , the music will always
come first . How about you ? Music Lover , Audiophile or Both ?
 
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i love music and have a large collection,
i play some every day. even after a long work day.
i would not call myself an audiophile, but others have.
i just happen to love the gear,have some knowledge, about it and keep upgrading as i can.
right now i am in a happy place with what i have.
but that will change more than likely
 
RamblinE said:
People posting about audio gear in an audio forum on the internet are 100% both. You'll also never find an audiophile who's not a music lover. Being a music lover can be mutually exclusive but not being an audiophile.
Click to expand...

This make perfect sense to me but I still have a hard time convincing myself it is true in all cases. It's easy to get caught up chasing the perfect sound and forget why you started.
As far as the OP goes, good sound has changed my listening habits quite a bit. I care more about production and mastering than before. I'll play exceptionally well recorded music more often for that reason alone.
 
Social definitions of what others imply something to be....

Audio is the replication of sound without the implication of the equipment used to do so. An audiophile has an obsession to sound and is mesmerized by it. Possession obsession of equipment leading to the enjoyment of music is not the same because they can not enjoy music unless it's played on a certain kind of equipment. Not to be confused with using better equipment to obtain a better sound. But if a person has no appreciation for the endless amounts of TOTL equipment all with the potential of emitting great sound then the person is a collector of gear which makes them a gearhead and not an audiophile. To a gearhead audiophile is a higher grade of quality gear....
 
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I tend to go back and forth, depending on if I am having issues with my gear, but for the most part I'd say 85% of the time I am just listening to the music. There will be certain tracks where my system gets me to say WOW this system is still doing it for me, but other tracks where it sometimes sounds like crap. Then I am asking myself are my speakers just being revealing to a badly recorded and or mastered track? Or are my speakers having difficulty reproducing that particular combination of sounds? Doing that sort of thing is not listening to the music, so at those times, guilty as charged!
 
90% music lover, 10% gear lover. I don't love the term audiophile.

I love my jazz albums even on a lowly 5625AL cart. Audiophile albums on an Ortofon Black get old pretty quickly in my opinion.
 
Just for the fun of it, one may define a parameter to answer this question for anybody that is curious about it. Lets consider the quotient

(Total investment in music media)/(Total investment in audio gear)

If the quotient is larger than 1, one may be defined as a "music lover" and if it is smaller than 1, then one may be regarded as an "audiophile".

In my case, this quotient yields a parameter of 10 or larger!
 
I must admit I have a big cd collection that I use to listen to in the car and downloaded to my iPod. I listened to my CDs on my home theatre system every once in awhile and sound ok but not never good as I would like until I received a free turntable and hooked it up. I didn't think my HT system could sound that good. All my friends have 2 channels systems so I decided to put one together myself. Learned a lot from the forums and got most of my systems where I want them. I have the vinyl bug and have 300 titles now since 3 years ago. I don't think of myself as a audiophile but really like listening to the music from my era especially the detail of vinyl. I'd say I'm more of a fiddler than audiophile. My K9s sound great but I haven't really spent too much on them. What was the thread about again. Lol



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At the age of ten, I heard my first live concert - the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in Mississippi, circa 1963. I was mesmerized, to the delight of Mrs. Caine - my teacher, and first love. No question, music led me to gear. Even then I listened to a wide variety of genres.

I used to think of myself as an audiophile, but now prefer the term enthusiast as a more accurate descriptor for me, mostly based on things I don't do. I don't use room treatments, I don't let speaker placement interfere with traffic in the home, I don't compare various cables, and few other things many do, like modifying equipment. I criticize no one for their approach, however. Indeed, I respect the opinions of those who do these things.

I love my current systems, but always have - however modest, or even downright crappy they might be/have been. I love music, and also the gear which delivers it, and am enthusiastic about discussing both.

I do like what RamblinE posted above:

RamblinE said:
People posting about audio gear in an audio forum on the internet are 100% both. You'll also never find an audiophile who's not a music lover. Being a music lover can be mutually exclusive but not being an audiophile.
Click to expand...

I think there is some truth in that.
 
One can be a lover of music without being a person with the peculiar predilection of owning audio equipment that produces the most accurate playback presentation, that which is the goal of an Audiophile.
Websters old time dictionary be damned:whip:
 
IMHO ... the term music lover vs audiophile is veiled insult aimed at audiophiles. It implies that audiophiles don't really like music ... they are just audio equipment geeks.
In my experience ... I've never met anybody who did not like/love music in some form or another .... as such, the only reason to say you are a music lover and
not an "Audiophile" ... is to insult people who consider themselves "Audiophiles".
 
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Condorsat said:
IMHO ... the term music lover vs audiophile is veiled insult aimed at audiophiles. It implies that audiophiles don't really like music ... they are just audio equipment geeks.
In my experience ... I've never met anybody who did not like/love music in some form or another .... as such, the only reason to say you are a music lover and
not an "Audiophile" ... is to insult people who consider themselves "Audiophiles".
Click to expand...
 
Sorry about the above glitch ,my bad ! In no way did I intend to insult anyone posing the question in my initial thread . I have been buying music and stereo equipment for at least 50 years . Having owned countless pieces of audio gear ( way too many to remember them all ) , and no matter how many times I made changes in equipment , the
music came first . No matter how good or bad the sound quality of the source material was , if the music touched me , the equipment didn't matter . That's why I consider myself a music lover .
 
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