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Two things. Dad and reefer. Dad showed me just how great a high-end system can sound, and great music through a great stereo sounds utterly amazing when you're stoned. That got a lot of people started back in the day.

I love to listen to music in my home, with good sound quality.

I am what I am and don't try to change me!

When it sounds really great, it refreshes my spirit and dissolves the stresses of the workday.

I've been thinking about just this lately. I think it has something to do with predisposition; some people get my stereo system, most don't. The ones who do are enraptured and concentrate, listening hard. The ones who don't are totally indifferent to the quality of the sound. That's about all I can figure; hope somebody can get closer to it than that.

Because I love to listen to music and have control over when the listening experience occurs. That means recorded music a lot more often than live performances. Also because I am unfortunately cursed with the ability to distinguish between great sound, really good sound, and everything else in the way of reproduced sound. By the way, it is rare indeed that I have ever experienced a live performance that is as enjoyable sound quality wise as listening to recorded music on a quality system. The cursed part results from not wanting to spend the time and effort it takes to keep improving my sound system and inadequate funds to accomplish that if I did. To avoid driving yourself nuts therefore, you take a deep breath and simply enjoy what you have.

I love great music reproduction.

I love music and I enjoy hearing it reproduced as well as possible. I prefer live music but can't always get to a concert.

Because I have an aural fixation, that's why!

I was in band through high school. That gave me an appreciation of good music of all types. I always had a fascination with electronics and became an electrical engineer. When a friend showed me that better sounding equipment really did exist, I was hooked.

I don't really consider myself an audiophile, whatever that means to each one of "us." I just like music, what I consider to be good music. I also happen to want to get as close as possible to "true" reproduction of it. I placed "true" in brackets, because sometimes less realistic, less accurate recreation of the original event—colored, if you will—is more enjoyable. Go figure...

Because I like music. So, as long as I'm going to listen to music, I prefer that it also have a pleasing sound.

It's really quite simple. I like listening to music, not just playing it in the background. My own musicianship is somewhat lacking, and many of my favorite musicians are dead. I can hear the differences between good and not so good systems, and my wife is willing to humor me.

I'm not sure if I want to be considered an "audiophile" because there are some strange people in this hobby, who probably would fuss and scream if you called them anything else. Many of those were probably not part of much of anything else, in their sheltered lives, and being classified as a "golden ear" is one of their few claims to fame. You have to admit, there are some real twits in this hobby. So I would rather prefer to think of myself as a longtime music enthusiast, who has been playing with fun audio gear for a long time. Not a "golden ear" or an obsessed "audiophile"!

Good music reproduction sounds better and makes me happier.

I like the thrill of gradually improving the quality of the sound I listen to. Better speaker stands helped, then brand new designed cables helped, Sennheiser headphones instead of the crap put out by Sony helped. Finally a Rega Planet CD player and a Headroom Maxed-Out headphone amplifier helped. This was over a period of years, because I am not a rich audiophile and can not afford new equipment very often.

I found great solice in music and then my older half brother sent me from Germany his old Grundig valve-operated shortwave stereo which I proceeded to take to a local electronics shop to have a custom DIN plug put on my newly purchased Dual table and the rest, as they say, has been history!

When nothing else in the world will relax me, music will. The more detailed the sound, the more relaxing it is.

I like to hear what the musicians are doing.

I'll admit it. My name is Frank, and I'm an audiophile! Wow; I sure feel better now that I've gone public with my affliction. Seriously, I think I'm an audiophile because I really enjoy tinkering with tubes and tweaking turntables. Old ways are hard to break.

...my cables are thicker than your cables!

I love music, no question, but I also love to listen to it at the highest fidelity possible.

Besides the music, which transcends and rationalizes all of this, I am an audiophile because audio is one of those areas (like photography) where engineering, science, and art come together. Beyond that, and despite the fact that the magic so often happens in seclusion, audio is reassuringly human in that it is generally collegial and a cooperative group effort, from Bach's pen to the needle hitting the groove, from Pete's Hi-Watt amps to the imaging in front of my living room sweet spot.

Because a much as I love music, I cannot not stand to hear distortion, tinny violins, or radio stations not quite tuned in (in the days of manual tuning) if I have a choice.

I love sound

I almost selected "I'm not an audiophile" because I think of myself first and foremost as a lover of music. I suppose the reason I'm an audiophile is because I love to have music reproduced in my home and I enjoy that music more and understand it much better if it's reproduced with some degree of fidelity. I'm sure by some audiophiles' standards my equipment wouldn't really qualify me as one of them. And I don't replace it every time a "new and improved" piece of gear comes out (for example, still haven't jumped on the SACD/DVD bandwagon). But I love music. Always have. I love playing records. Always have since I was a kid. Debussey just sounds so much better (all the different colors and textures, etc.) through my Vandersteens than it does through a cheap plastic computer speaker. So, I guess I'm an audiophile. Maybe.

Duh. I just am. If the lid falls on my Linn when the amps are turned off, does it make a noise?

As much as I love quality recorded (and of course live) music, I truly have a pride of ownership and an appreciation of the finely designed and highly performing gear I own.

I love music, and I want to get as close to the musical truth as I can.

I love music. Home audio is the quickest and easiest way to hear what you want when you want.