How rare is an audiophile

@mahler123 Generally, you are correct.  The president and founder (deceased) Dr. Braun (head of thoracic surgery Kaiser, cantor and a fine orchestral violist) of the Jewish Music Commission (new classical and Jewish ethnic oriented music grants and archives) had a 60's Marantz receiver and bookshelf speakers.  Half a dozen cantors I know are thrilled to share music in my home for hours, none of them have audiophile equipment in the least (one was a former vocalist for 100s of Disney cartoons).  Other members of my choirs (probably numbering over 100 over 50 years) are/were not audiophiles either  My sister who is a local opera quality vocalist and members of the Viklarbo Chamber orchestra have nominal audio (cheap) audio gear.  I guess it's only me.  I just happen to know several dozen Los Angeles area audiophiles of which a couple are physicians and are also my best friends.

Someone mentioned that audiophiles should spend more time procreating.  True, however, two of my three current best friends are single men in their 60s (hetero) who are audiophiles and listen to music daily and often. as much as time permits (not retired).  I don't have set work hours so I listen nightly from 12 to 2 am, get up at 9 am to begin the day.  Weekends I sneak in several more hours.  Sometimes I edit and master my recordings (about 200+) of local chamber and choral groups.  

I recall that on a YouTube clip from Paul McGowen of PS Audio in the last couple of years, he said something like that there were maybe 250,000 audiophiles globally.

250,000 audiophiles globally sounds like a very low number.  No wonder high end audio equipments are so expensive!!! 😀

Because of A. I. very soon virtual room acoustic through headphone or real room acoustic with speakers will make obsolete products review in a way the headphone you use in a Smyth realizer matter less than the Smyth realizer itself...

Dr. Choueri BACCH filters dac is already perfect virtual room acoustic ...

This will be made affordable soon to the masses...

A.I. assisted dac will terminated audiophilia, which was centered around electronics engineering and consumerism more than around acoustic and homemade experiments anyway...Most people not retired had no time for that... I begun my audiophile journey REALLY after my retirement... Before that i dreamed about buying ready made costly solutions as most people did..

And A. I. acoustic assisted designing, virtual for headphone or in real time with speakers will make speakers brand almost obsolete as we know them now with audiophile obsession for this brand or this other one, this obsession will became less meaningful ...Because A. I. assisted program will become the source of S. Q. more than specific component as it was before A. I.

Love of Music is here to stay...Love of specific material components will disapear or became a rare collectors mania...

I was an audiophile and in the obligation to be one, because i wanted a TOP sound and music experience under 1000 bucks and i could not afford costly audio high end components ... I succeeded with my peanuts cost controlled acoustic room but i worked very hard non stop for a year EACH DAY to tune 100 resonators and take time for material acoustic treatment ... Who could pay a designed room from a pro acoustician around 100,000 bucks ? After the lost of my house 10 months ago, i was depressed, but i succeeded a second time with headphone this time and a six months listening non stop experiments around the chosen headphone...

Now my audiophile research is terminated, i listen music without being bothered by acoustic evident limitation as in my room and even slightly better with my headphone ...( Because so good they were the Mission Cyrus never go under 50 hertz keeping power, extension and more depth in bass register, a thing my headphone did it easily now, i felt organ bass note with my body and feet )

Young music lovers would not be in the obligation to do homemade acoustic as i was , they will ask an assistant A. I. to do it in no time... Most of the times virtual room and for others speakers real room...But it will be way less costly with headphones and as good as with speakers...

Then Forums will be more about music and not as today about electronics, cables, brand name and sometimes and more rarely about acoustic, because acoustic is hard to figure out by ears etc ... All material component will be heavily assisted, controlled and monitored by A. I. in real time...

It will be the dawn of audiophiles and their extinction and the rise of music lovers numbers...Because it will be more easy to create soundfield with , imaging, soundstage and perfect holography at will and as we wanted them to be...

True audiophiles for me were people who are not mere passive consumers of audio components only... It is people who thought about their room and components and modify them in a way or in another...With no limit of money, people are music lover not audiophile anymore ...

A few % of audiophiles are brand name obsessed people whose hobby was to change parts regularly... I am not an audiophile in this category... i dont want to collect headphones for example, i only bought 10 because i was always disappointed before i  stumble on the right one , i never listened to the 9 others  after that ,only to the last one i learned how to optimize and the only one who can be optimized and upgraded to the top ...