Why are you an audiophile?

Exploring the details about the reproduction of music in the home is what we're all about. Periodically, however, it's a good idea to get back to basics, which leads us to this week's question: Why are you an audiophile?

Why are you an audiophile?
I'm an audiophile because
76% (68 votes)
I'm not sure
13% (12 votes)
I'm not an audiophile
11% (10 votes)
Total votes: 90

COMMENTS
Colin Robertson's picture

Okay, we need to stop arguing over what an audiophile is. If you read Stereophile, chances are, you are an audiophile. If you are "into" high-end audio gear, you are an audiophile. Hopefully audiophiles also enjoy music.

Keith Y's picture

I love music. I love to listen to music. I love to reproduce music at home as purely as my pockets (and my wife) will allow!

Mike Molinaro's picture

Great reproduced music sends chills through my body. Also, music and imagination take me to many wonderful places!

Rob Gold's picture

I originally got into audio as an expression of my love for and interest in music. I later realized that I could find most (if not all) of the substance of music on far less accomplished gear (including clock radios). I have later admitted to myself that I get a great deal of sensual pleasure from the fine sound of a well-tuned system, and I also enjoy the techie, gearhead part of the hobby, regardless of the musical results. Was it George Bernard Shaw who said "Most people don't actually like music, they just like the sound of it"?

Allen's picture

Yes, because listening to music rules my life, even when I don't want it to!

C.  Healthgut, M.D., FACS's picture

I'm an audiophile because I'm passionately in love with music and its healing properties.

Dan Landen's picture

Mostly because I'm critical of the quality of sound. Not that I can afford the best, just that I want to make the best sound from whatever I listen to.

Al Earz's picture

I am not sure. If I knew why, I could probably stop it! Maybe I could buy some food then or a ... a ... what the heck, I would try a new digital cable.

Joseph's picture

I lover music, and I enjoy trying to get the best performance I can get out of whatever equipment I have, and upgrading as finances allow

Ben's picture

Music means so much to me! Being a musician really connects me to what I hear from my system. Without the medium to listen to, I don't think my skills as a performer would be as developed as they are today.

Paul J.  Stiles, Mtn.  View, CA's picture

I like music and I also like the equipment that reproduces it (I'm a geek, too).

Doug McCall's picture

I love music, but that does not necessarily make me an audiophile. I know lots of people who say they love music too, yet are content to listen to music with a Wal-Mart boom box stuck on shelf in the corner. I do tend to be a bit of an obsessive/compulsive personality, so maybe that, combined with the love of music is what makes me an audiophile.

Daniel Emerson's picture

I love listening to music, and a good hi-fi is a damn sight better than the plastic boxes foisted on an ignorant public, who think that if something has the word "digital" on it, it must, therefore, be good.

Graeme Nattress's picture

I enjoy music, and I enjoy technology, and being an audiophile brings those together.

Dennis's picture

I'm an electronics nut. I enjoy music. It keeps my mind in an arena I enjoy. I'm a perfectionist and have some disposable income.

Adrian Lebena's picture

it was fun, exciting, and very interesting. However I have to say that in the last five years I have not been much of an audiophile since the introduction of the DVD-Audio, SACD, MP3, iPod, and countless other formats. I mean competion is great but it seams that the higher resolution formats have killed the audiophile industry. The more successful lower resolution formats are disappointing at best to the real audiophile. Thus, the industry dwindles and we audiophiles turn our attention to other forms of hobbies, pastimes, and pleasures.

Brankin's picture

A what? Hmm, let's check dictionary.com: A person having an ardent interest in stereo or high-fidelity sound reproduction. Okay, sure, I guess so. Do I need to behave different now?

Mark Gdovin's picture

??I'm a music-lover first and not so much an audiophile, per se. My ONLY reason for being interested in audio gear is the music. Still, the gear itself IS fun! Playing with high-tech gadgets, some of such beauty, is almost a hobby unto itself.

Alan from Victoria's picture

I'm not. I simply listen to a lot of recorded music, and have been impressed with just how good it can sound.

Travis Klersy's picture

I'm an audiophile because I enjoy listening to music and the gear used for playback can make or break the experience.

Al Marcy's picture

I am not an audiophile. I only listen to music to impress your friends.

Chris's picture

I like to listen to a lot of music and I like it to sound really, really good.

Geordy Duncan's picture

...because all I want is for the music and instruments to sound real. Don't get me wrong...I love the "cool factor" of the equipment too, but the music HAS to come first. If the music does not come across reasonably real to me...I can't get emotionally moved or involved by it.

MICHAEL PAQUET's picture

because LOVE music!

DAB, Pacific Palisades, CA's picture

Friends are well-known musicians. You wouldn't believe some of the gear that they use to listen to music. Some of them are elated to have a RadioShack playback system. It goes to show that playback gear is not equivalent to musical prowess.

erich's picture

I'm an audiophile because I care deeply about the quality of reproduced sound.

biggeramps's picture

It allows the music to take me places I want to go (even when I don't know where that is).

SJM's picture

I love music and I want to hear all of it.

Onymous's picture

I can hear and appreciate the differences in recordings and playback systems.

Gerald Neily's picture

I really try not to obsess over sound quality, since doing so definitely takes away from musical enjoyment, but I can't help it, so I must reluctantly call myself an audiophile.

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