I think I was an audiophile as a teenager with my GE portable stereo. That doesn't mean you can't go from something like that to a revelatory experience based purely on sound. I had built a Dynaco SCA-80 integrated and had the Dyna A25 speakers that were so popular, also an ancient Thorens TD-1something TT on a wooden unsupported base. Now when I moved back to Texas it was time to move up, and I was actually making some money. I found a very good audio store and that was my gateway to the real thing. I got Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, a better Thorens, the Threshold 400A amp Nelson Pass made, the the Apt Holman preamp that was the bees' knees in High Fidelity and elsewhere. That's pretty good stuff and I liked it but the revelation came when my audio dealer offered me a Spectral preamp. It was so cool and had a pexiglas top fitted to it so you could see the insides. Having "built" things before (some of which worked the first time) I couldn't believe how that thing was put together and wired. I bought it. The revelation came when I got it home and replaced the Apt Holman with it. I suppose that was the audiophile moment. The Apt was a high rated piece of junk next to that thing, and now the full impact of the Threshold was revealed. That's the fun of being an audiophile. Just see how many posts we have here on this topic in a short time. The bottom line is that are myriad ways to hear your music, so it's not just about the equipment (but it doesn't hurt!).
the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile
@foggyus91 suggested/pushed/encouraged me to start a thread about this. It was related to Darko's post about 12 audiophile misconceptions. One was that we are all about music - vs gear. I think that subject has been chewed up already a 100 times. I am not sure anyone has anything new to say.
However, that made me think about the day I turned into an audiophile.
It was when I bought my first "gateway" product that was affordable but audiophile quality and led me to explore more and tweak and switch and experiment and never be fully content but always be smiling when I turned the power on. It's been about the sound and not the music and that's fine. But I realize now that those Monitor Audio speakers I bought from craigslist were my gateway drug 
Were you always an audiophile or was there such a moment and a piece of hardware that made the difference?
(Lastly, I am very uneasy and on the fence about this forum and starting a thread - for my last correspondence with the moderators. What I learned should bother anyone who cares about fairness or even the appearance of it. I can't discuss it because it will get removed - I tried, my comment lived for less than 5 minutes, )