2. misc-audio
  3. 184556-111267

How rare is an audiophile

I’ve been extremely busy lately and not had a chance to sit back and listen to music  on my system for a few weeks. I’ve streamed my favorite music in the car and on a small JBL Flip-4 portable speaker; which by the way “punches way above its size class.”  I continued to enjoy music whenever, wherever, and however i can during this “dry spell.”

So now its 5 am Sunday morning. I know i’ll be spending most of the day listening on the JBL when my wife and I drive out to a lake house we bought recently and are furnishing and getting ready for 4 generations to enjoy lake life this summer and for years to come. 
I’ve let my system warm up and hit play on my CD player. I now find myself in total bliss listening to Chris Standing’s newest CD “The Lovers Re-mix Collection.”  The effect of the quality of the sound of the music my wife and i are enjoying right now with a cup of coffee is hard to explain, but it brought literal tears of joy.  

I started thinking, how many people are like us?  What % of the population are audiophiles (whatever your definition of an audiophile is)?

I know the answer is heavily dependent on which country you live in. I live in the US along with ~332,000,000 fellow citizens (please, lets not get political on the meaning of population or citizen). 
Are we the 0.1%ers?  Are there ~332,000 audiophiles in the US?

i’d be interested in what others think about how rare our species is.

ezstreams

Showing 4 responses by mahler123

mahler123
3,037 posts
 

I guess your question is what percentage of the U.S. population are audiophiles.  In my experience 1 in 1000 is a bit high.  Probably more like 1 in 5,000.

mahler123
3,037 posts
 

I am a Primary Care Physician have practiced about 35 years.  Once you get a patient for a year or so you start to learn about their interests.  I have known exactly 1 Audiophile in that time.  Amongst my colleagues in that time, perhaps one more, although I’ve known several that bought expensive gear just because they have to have “the best” of everything, even if they are clueless about how to use it

mahler123
3,037 posts
 

It’s been noted upthread that there are increasing numbers of manufacturers, that some shows are well attended, and that this must be proof of growth of interest in audiophilia.  I would add to this the attention that the companies with the really big bucks are paying to sound reproduction.  Apple has Spatial Audio, and Amazon has their various home products for pairing with Amazon Music, assorted sound bars, etc.  Now the natural tendency here will be to dismiss most of this (Some of us may be interested in Spatial Audio ) as not worthy of Audiophile/Serious discussion.  However it indicates that there is a market for better sound than bog standard ear buds.  If there are several million people out there investigating better sound, certainly some percentage can be ensnared by the whole enchilada.  
  Clearly the industry needs to move beyond our demographic, the aging white males with retirement portfolios who are willing the buy lots of products so that we can continue to enjoy music that was released half a century ago.  In doing so, our demographic is a negative.  They don’t want to project the image that if you go down this path, you will turn into this bald fat old guy sitting alone in his listening room.

  However the reality is that most of the new generation of listeners they are seeking are sitting alone in their bedrooms, probably multitasking while listening to music in the background.  Good luck flipping that group into people willing to spend 5 figures for a component .

mahler123
3,037 posts
 

@fleschler 

  I tend to ask patients when I’ve seen them a few times what their interests are.

That may not be a common thing with PCPs, as we are all so rushed these days

More to discover