are audiophiles different than non audiophiles ?

Frogman, technically, one can not be an "audiophile", unless one has a keen interest in the equipment.

An audiophile, from Latin audio[1] "I hear" and Greek philos[2] "loving," is a hobbyist who seeks high-quality audio reproduction via the use of specialized high-end audio electronics.[3][4] Audiophiles prefer to listen to music at a quality level that is as close to the original performance as possible using high-fidelity components. These specialized components include turntables, digital-to-analog converters, equalization devices, preamplifiers and amplifiers. Both high quality solid-state and vacuum tube amplifiers are used. The quest for audio perfection can also include horn loudspeakers or electrostatic speakers, power conditioners, subwoofers and acoustic room treatment.[5][6]

Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting. High-end audio refers to expensive, high-quality, or esoteric products and practices used in the reproduction of music. Electronic gear used by audiophiles can be bought at specialist shops and websites.[4] Audiophiles can purchase special recordings made with extra attention to sound quality, some being special audiophile-oriented reissues, as well as recordings in high-resolution formats such as Super Audio CD or DVD-Audio. Many modern audiophiles also take advantage of lossless file formats such as WAV, FLAC, WMA Lossless, and Apple Lossless.

The music is much more important than the equipment for me. It is because of the music that I have the equipment.

I have never met a professional musician, who would fall into the audiophile category. That's a peculiar contradiction.

Stereophile ran a series where they interviewed famous musicians. Branford Marsalis, Tony Bennett, and John Lee Hooker are three that I remembered. Branford had Herron Audio, which is top notch, John Lee had all Kenwood, and Tony's rig was in a beautiful custom console that fit in with his furnitue. John Lee said his Kenwood gave him the "funky" sound he liked.

During the course of these interviews it became apparent that "high end" music was not a big turn on although they most certainly could afford it. The professional musicians I knew personally preferred digital cassettes, and were moving too fast to consider the detail involved in high end audio, besides the fact that they spent most of their time listening to live music.

A professional musician can hear more in an ordinary audio cassette than we can hear on high end analog, they hear all the music and what each musician is doing, while audiophile's hear the noise.

Unfortunately, I have never even met a "classical" musician. It's possible they have different lifestyles from jazz and rock musicians. Since that was a long time ago when I hung out with jazz and rock musicians, a lot has changed, and I wrote from personal experience plus the articles in "Stereophile".

If we got really loose with the definition of "audiophile", we could probably include some of the musicians I knew.