My older sister was into music ahead of me in our grade school days. She would dabble with my mom's small cassette deck and play here Carpenters, Elton John tapes in it. I would 'squat' nearby and listen with her. But until today, some 40+ years later, she never bought any separates, and today, asked me to recommend her a boom box console and she ended up with a Bose boom box. She loves music but unlike me, never went into the upgrade itch, never bought cables that 'improved' the sound, never went into tubes or tube rolling, amp or preamp rolling, never bought multiple reissues of the same album; she just played music each day on her AIWA mini component for ages till this Bose purchase. To me, that distinguishes an audiophile (me) from a music lover. I would buy 'audiophile records' and found them to sound better than ordinary mass produced LPs. And I would believe that the target market of companies like Sheffield, RR, Chesky, etc would be people like me and not my sister.
And if Def Leppard floats your boat, and that's what you listen to on your system, great. Kind of like a relationship. Both of you don't have to agree on everything because you're separate individuals each with your own likes and dislikes. Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I don't love you any less
I consider myself an audiophile. I just love listening to music on my system. I am also interrested in the gear and the technical stuff arround it - on the never ending road to hifi nirvarna.
I must say that since joining here I've become more interested in gear. Before it was only and purely about the music, but I've come to understand that looking at gear and trying to create some synergy between components is a wonderful thing. It's still all about the music for me first and foremost, and that will never change, but I've enjoyed the small journey I've been on to improve the sound where I can, given my means. To be an audiophile, if I can call myself that, is to be open to new things and to consider or learn/investigate those pieces (media or gear) that could potentially make a difference.
I like the road I've traveled so far, and I hope the journey continues for a while longer. It should as I keep an open mind.
