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.
I know four. What does that say about me? An audiofile is someone who, regardless of budget/means loves tinkering with audio equipment and the environment it resides in to better the listening experience. As for numbers with systems who preen and listen. If it were possible to know, then we’d know. Cube Nordost units sold?
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@samureyex - hah! That's a good one. I've got a killer audiophile system - 😁 |
I was already an audiophile at the age of 7 but I never knew that or even the meaning of the word until much later in life. Listening to music at such a young age felt like a source of life force to me. A very fun life source In 5th grade when a friend gave me a cd as a gift, I was over the freaking moon. |
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. 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 . |
