Are you a music lover 1st or a Audiophile ?

W WALDECKER

Even though i love buying Two channel Gear it is the music that draws me in and keeps me in this Crazy hobby of ours. i see guys who listen to gear and evalute it like they are at a wine tasting.i look for the gear to connect with and move me emotionaly,i know what i like when i hear it.i think that i am a music lover 1st and an Audiophile / Audio enthusiast second. does anyone else care to chime in ? thanks....WCW III

cmy330go

I would consider myself a music fan 1st. However, now and then I do find myself obsessing about the gear and therefore kind of lose focus on the music.

Dennis Gardner

A long trek to audiophile for me........................I was a musician first which lead to seeking out the best talent/performance. Once I recognize what it takes to be so talented/proficient I bagan to seek to reproduce it with my gear at a level that the talent deserves.

Musician/music lover/audiophile

This can be triple threat curse since I often get wrapped up in analyzing the composition, the musical ability of the performer, and the technical aspects of my gears reproduction. With all of this going on, I rarely use music just to relax.

jmwest1970

I'm definitely a music lover. When I audition gear I try to analyze things like imaging and presence, but if the gear is quality I find myself getting more into the sound than the technical details.

cfrizz

I'm strictly a music lover. Audiophile is simply a pretentious term people use to sound superior.

Spacedeckman

No question, music first. Without step one, I have no step two. Not the same with everyone though. I have been caught up in the gear thing a couple of times, and lived to regret it.

Mark

danger boy

music comes first with me too.... i can listen to my system.. and I know it has faults.... if I was an audiophile, i wouldn't be able to listen to it.. because it wouldn't be listenable.

i think there are truely very few audiophiles.. to me the term audiophile means a person who spends gobs of money on gear to try and reach that perfect sound reproduction.... it has a snobbish sound to it.

Shizelbs

Music lover, no question.

Serendipity

Music lover.

honda cber

not sure how it could be otherwise, as what exactly would drive one to assemble a great system for music playback if you dont particularly love music?

i appreciate hi-fi audio as much as the next guy, but as long as there isnt significant static (from FM) or distortion (from overdriving), i would 100 times rather have music than not, no matter the source, and *almost* no matter what i am doing.

a

steveinaz

I dunno. I like the gadgetry associated with hi-fi, but then again the bottom line is the sound quality. Doesn't matter how pretty it is, if it doesn't sound right, it has to go.

I think all audiophiles love the hobby at least partially because of the equipment...right? But then again, I can enjoy music regardless of the source; be it a boombox or high-end system.

All of you who say "music first" are full of dookie. If that was the case, we'd all be listening to table radios...now climb off your pedastal...LOL

fatchowmein

It's a close race: gadget freak vs music first.

Early B.

I'm waiting for someone to say, "I hate music, but I love the gear." Ain't gonna happen.

The music lover vs. audiophile thing is a loaded question. There can only be one answer because an audiophile is a specific type of music lover. It's not that audiophiles necessarily enjoy music more than others, we simply enjoy it differently.

VR3

I have been a gear freak for years. I would say that I have more recently been able to enjoy just about every single disc that is thrown in the player...

A very recent occurance - everything sounds so darn good around here. Just need a lil more juice and I'll be set.

I love music. Music is life. Life is music.

wingnut4772

I love music first but if I can't reproduce it at a certain level I really don't enjoy listening to it. So what does that mean?

Early B.

wingnut4772 wrote: »

I love music first but if I can't reproduce it at a certain level I really don't enjoy listening to it. So what does that mean?

It means you're an effin' snobby **** audiophile like the rest of us.

treitz3

cfrizz wrote: »

I'm strictly a music lover. Audiophile is simply a pretentious term people use to sound superior.

I love music, don't get me wrong, but once one has heard a great recording on a great system with synergy in a great room built for strictly music........not all of one's "music" is enjoyable, IMO.

Songs that I used to dearly love now sound like crap because of the recording. So, for me.............Audiophile.

I am not superior, just honest.;)

treitz3

wingnut4772 wrote: »

I love music first but if I can't reproduce it at a certain level I really don't enjoy listening to it.

Exactly.

engtaz

wingnut4772 wrote: »

I love music first but if I can't reproduce it at a certain level I really don't enjoy listening to it. So what does that mean?

That's says it all in a nut shell.

NeilGabriel

Music is great. Live music is better. Loud live music is better yet. Some of us grew up listening to AM radio and 45 records that sounded like **** and we managed. Out of a sense of moderation, I never spent big dollars on audio equipment and never considered myself an audiophile, if that meant someone who spent huge dollars for equipment and understood the tech articles in stereo mags--though I tried. I have started spending more lately because I really want the best sound I can get and HT actually drove me to do so, not 2 channel.

Polk65

Music lover 1st. I have played a few instruments and always enjoyed the music before bringing it home with Mr. Dolby. While poor quality gear makes me cringe I still bear with listening, just for the music.

madmax

I have to say audiophile #1, music #2.
madmax

skipf

I'd much rather hear good music on an average system than average/bad music on a top of the line system. Guess that makes me a music lover. Of course, good music on a good system is the ideal, so I guess I've got a little of the audiophile in me. Not enought to spend $2000 on a set of cables or $8000 on a TT though.

Yashu

Music. I love hifi because it let's me tweak on my OCD, and my technical prowess, but at the same time, enhancing my music. Sometimes a change or an upgrade is such a difference that I can listen to my music all over again for the first time... that, right there, is what it is all about.

Ricardo

What I love is watching the lights/leds in my gear. When I play it, I do it on mute because it turns on one more led. I still like buying new CD's (with music), because I like memorizing the patterns in the equalizer leds. I like following them and I recognize which CD/track I'm playing. I won't have any hearing problems, ever.

mulveling

Before the TT: gear first.
After the TT: music first

BottomFeeder

cfrizz wrote: »

I'm strictly a music lover. Audiophile is simply a pretentious term people use to sound superior.

I second that. At least in my mind, as soon as I say "audiophile," the focus of my listening is off of the music and onto the gear. The gear is for the sake of the music.

Deadof_knight

Just gotta have good gear to play good music on...... Im gonna say Im a fence runner , but since I got my 1.2's not worried about gear anymore just wanna hear the music so...........

ESavinon

1. Music lover. 2. Video lover. 3. Audiophile. 4.Videophile. 5. Beerophile.
6. Steakophile.

venomclan

ESAVINON wrote: »

1. Music lover. 2. Video lover. 3. Audiophile. 4.Videophile. 5. Beerophile.
6. Steakophile.

1. Carnivore.
2. Womanizer (Even though I am now considered ****)
3. Audiophile
4. Videophile
5. House Tyrant
6. Slave to the whims of a particular Bulldog.
V

zombie boy 2000

1. Pilephile
2. Philephile
3. Philphile
4. Pillphile