ARE YOU A " TRUE EXPERT AUDIOPHILE " ( T E A ) ???

lol so true. Schubert, you got a somewhat punky attitude ;)

Seriously, I´m too still searching for the answer... after all these decades.

On the other hand, I´m very happy with my current set-up and I really don´t long for a better analog sound, it´s the finest I ever have had and can´t imagine a better really. So am I just a fool trying to catch the gold in rainbow´s end...

" Some say that I’m a wise man, some think that I’m a fool
It doesn’t matter either way: I’ll be a wise man’s fool " - Keith Reid

Quote from "In Held ´Twas in I", music by Procol Harum, 1968

bare bones definition: "one who seeks perfection in the reproduction of recorded music."

Dear Raul, I do organize the first Japan Triode Meeting in may 2017 in Fukuoka and I would love to have your participation, so please contact me at : 
jeanloveys@gmail.com. Facebook page Lenco Heaven Meeting.
Best regards,
Jean

@rauliruegas I'm sure this has been said in one way or another, but I think "an audiophile uses their equipment/setup to listen to music, whereas a T.E.A. uses their music to listen to their equipment/setup."

That said, I am in full agreement with @russbutton  and @pani on this discussion. For me, a True Expert Audiophile is a systems thinker who is fully capable of hearing the current state of an audio system, have the knowledge to understand why the current synergy of the setup mixed with the environmental constraints is resulting in the output, and what kinds of improvements can be made in order to get the best synergy across all pieces of the system in that specific environment.

Honestly, I think it is foolish to have an expectation of how a system should sound without having full control of the dynamics of the environment (and a light amount of room treatment can only get us so far). So really, perhaps it is about making the absolute best out of what is there and what you have to work with. It's all systems thinking with the requirements of being fully aware of every variable in the system and also having an awareness of how other variables (components you can add or modify) will change the equation.

With that, I think a T.E.A. should be able to design or consult on a number of different types of systems based on different types of rooms, or based off of different sound signatures defined by core components such as speakers or amplifiers or source material that the T.E.A. wishes to use as a foundation for the sound.

So to summarize, a T.E.A. must:
1. be a holistic systems thinker that is fully aware of every variable in a system
2. have done the research and has the hands-on expertise on the variables or tools available to them (components, parts, etc)
3. know how to work within constraints to get the best possible results (based on environment or foundational components that the system owner wishes to keep in place).