If you are on this site, and participate in discussions about gear in order to improve your listening experience, you are an audiophile.

People change the meaning of words to suit their own purposes, which is hilarious, because words have specific meanings. 

“I care about the music first, so I’m not an audiophile” I love the air of superiority and the not so subtle subtext of “I’m better than you because I only care about the music” Makes me laugh.

Wonder why audiophile became such a dirty word? Is it ego? Do people think they are beyond being defined? Is it fear or insecurity? Why do people feel the need to change the meaning of a word to suit their own needs or shortcomings? 

Nowhere, in the definition of the word audiophile, does it place a hierarchy on its use. Meaning, you can care more about the music than how it sounds. But if you care at all about the reproduction of your music, guess what. You’re an audiophile.

From Websters dictionary:

audiophile

noun

au·​dio·​phile ˈȯ-dē-ō-ˌfī(-ə)l 

: a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction
 

If youʻre a true audiophile, then you just HAVE to make sure that everyone knows that yours is bigger than theirs.

@perkri     +1   Some of us get it!

Someone who understands the science of sound, and knows that expensive cables don't improve sound at all.

I don't have a million dollars to spend on equipment but I love reading about it.Iv'e alway bought and trade up in equipment, love audio equipment. love music all kinds ect.rap a crapa.Listen to all kinds in different formats. I'm 72 been listening to good equipment since my Sept father would play,Bwy shows,all kinds of music from Classical  to Sinatra.An audiophile  who cares.I'm a music and equipment lover.

I'm not all that offended by the term 'audiophile', for lack of a better label. At the end of it all, we're all guys (and gals) who like good audio equipment to hear the best possible sound we can squeeze out of a musical recording. So if I'm an audiophile, so be it. I'm sure the coffee cup wanted a better name, but at at least everyone's on the same page when you hear the term 'coffee cup'.

I have more than 1M of sound equipment but I don't want to be called an audiophile  because I've come to find out being and "audiophile" means you have to believe in things that are not true. It's more than a hobby it's like a cult. I'm sad to say. 

True you have to have 1 million dollar system. That BS.

Like many others, I’ve been listening to music since the early sixties. I had one of those suitcase record players that I traded for a mismatched pair of tube amps. Then I found Halfler kits and there was no going back! I have bought, swapped and sold equipment for almost sixty years and buying music along the way. Having all the equipment in the world is meaningless without the music!

Can anyone else chime in with some of the more ridiculous qualifications people have come up with for calling oneself an "audiophile?"

a) A true audiophile shall only buy things from a guy who put something shoddy together in his garage (to provide true audiophile elusivity). When the shoddy does fall apart, garage guy will be long gone and the true audiophile will have a big paperweight.

b) A true audiophile shall know nothing about setup, acoustics, etc, focus only on optics and it will all sound like crap.

c) A true audiophile shall keep himself very tool/feature deprived in the name of purity and his cluster may sound ok with 3 audiophile recordings on repeat. Play anything else and the naked emperor will be in town full bloom.

d) When a true audiophile’s gear, his lack of common sense, etc keeps him in a state of constant disgruntlement, he shall blame everything on the cable (it’s all the cable’s fault) and keep buying wire for 10k, 20k, etc to fix all his problems.

etc, etc , etc

I could go further on the list and all the way to x, y, z, give you a sum total of 26 true audiophile qualifiers, but you get the idea..

If you say you are one, then you are one.

To me it is about getting the best sounding issue/pressing available of my favorite records without paying for the collector aspect to it. For others that are not among my top 50/100, making sure the pressing sounds very good.

I despise collectors - they purposely drive prices up. When the record manufacturers like Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, Blue Note, Speakers Corner, etc. come out with reissues I am happy, When they overproduce them and I can get an overstock or great price especially from  a speculator who never opened it hoping for big investment gain, I am really happy (brand new Kind of Blue UHQR 45 for $120 for example a while back on eBay).

Collectors should stick to stamps, coins, art, and beanie babies. Car collectors are OK if they drive them at least a thousand or two miles per year or they are truly art (the multimillion dollar ones that belong in a museum) investments. Cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed.

Being an 'audiophile' has a more negative conotation these days. And I can see why.

In Latin the term Audio is a amalgamation of two words, which basically translates to be able to hear a range of Sounds.

In Greek 'Phile' is from the term for being attracted to.

A Hybrid word used since 1950's until today to describe music that is Broadcast, it is also from a similar Period that High Fidelity was used, both are designed to be used to define a particular area of Marketing Demographic, and the influence is that some want to be labeled such a Type of individual in relation to how they make decisions about a purchase. I sense it gives a purpose to the reasons to spend monies on a means to be entertained using recorded music.