I lately wonder why I’m an Audiophile.

I bet that with 23,000 posts about all aspects of audio you are an audiophile as i am...

But why do you reject the word?

Why being afraid of what we are ?

 I am a failed or sad  audiophile  since i had 23...

I am an happy audiophile since my retirement because i solve my acoustics experience problem and my gear problems...Not by upgraditis but by thinking...

I am not afraid to be called an audiophile ...

I was because sound matter in my music appreciation even if i could enjoy music on battery transistor radio under my sheet at night when i was 13...

I am first a music lover and last a music lover...

But i was an audiophile  because solving the S.Q. problem was a real problem for me...

What @macg19 said.   Hobbies are for enjoyment so…..

I never refer to myself as an audiophile.  Lots of baggage there!   I prefer hifi buff or or better yet music lover. 

Please.  You took effort to put together a nice system and now you enjoy it.

This is like photography.  A razor sharp digital image is perfection and many people seek that. Then you seen a grainy Henri Cartier Bresson image that makes you realize it's NOT about the gear but about the vision of the photographer.  So, listen to the music not the gear.  I am only coming back into this after a decade of hanging it up after listening to gear not music. I just got frustrated.  I'm ready to listen to music again because music heals the soul, gear does not.  

As the old saying goes, when you're sad you listen to the  words, when you're happy you listen to the music,  Listen to the music.  

Given the posting history of the OP, I suspect that his latest conversion to “The music is the thing, the gear doesn’t matter “ school of thought will be short lived.

  The only new component that I’ve bought in the last few was the $100 Wiim Pro, because I am pretty happy with how my 3 systems sound.  I still consider myself an Audiophile.  It is possible to say “This is good, now let’s play some music “ and not have FOMO that there is 0.005% of improvement that I can make 

@mahler123 

Mahler was also a pessimist.