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Why do some think "music" (not gear, trading, etc.) is the ultimate end?

A recent thread spurred a debate about the word "audiophile." Again. It went round and round in the usual ways.

What I don't understand is why so many take for granted that loving music is superior to loving gear. Or that gear is always -- and must be -- a mere *means* to music, which is the (supposedly) true end.

But if you stop and think about it, why do we love music? It gives us enjoyment.
Isn't that why people love gear? The enjoyment?
Or even, to push the question, buying, selling, changing gear? That's for enjoyment, no?

So, it raises the difficult question: Why do some think that "music" as an "enjoyment" is better than "gear" or "shopping, buying, selling, trading"?

Not everyone believes this, but it is the most prevalent assumption in these discussions -- that "love of music" is the end-which-cannot-be-questioned. 

So, while music is the largest end I'm personally striving for, I do realize that it's because it brings me enjoyment. But the other facets of the hobby do, too. And I'm starting to realize that ranking them is an exercise but not a revelation of the "one" way everything should sort out. It's all pretty subjective and surely doesn't seem like a basis on which I could criticize someone else's enjoyment, right? 

What do you think? On what grounds do you see it argued that "music" is a *superior* or *ultimate* end? Whether you agree or not, what reasons do you think support that conclusion?
128x128hilde45
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Without music equipment is worthless! I can add an observer with a functioning ear or two to complete the equation! 
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Why do some think "music" (not gear, trading, etc.) is the ultimate end?

Ok, how could one not think that music is the whole point?

I had a chance to figure out for real, one time, if it was music, or the gear.

A house fire next door, was about to remove my 3rd story apartment in an old victorian house...from the surface of the planet.

I had seconds to decide. I was also fairly poor at the time. I could lose the music, the crates of records,

or the belles 450 power amp, thorens TD125mk2 table, with the sme arm and the ortofon mc30 super..and the modded out ps audio 5.0 preamp. speakers at the time, for that moment, was...the Monitor audio 952 and a pair of NHT’s that I was playing with.

I only had, I figured, enough time to move one component or aspect, before the fire took it all.

I was also half asleep, groggy, staggering, as someone had awoken me by banging on the door down below, really hard. One of the crowd that had gathered..was banging on the downstairs door..to inform anyone inside...that the house next door was on fire.

I went for the records. save the records. save the music. to hell with the hard won equipment, I could always, somehow, get more. Save the music. Music first.

I found out for real, with an actual gun pointed at my head with an actual forced binary question and answer set.

We can talk and talk..but who really gets in the actual sights of it, with the barrel stuck to their temple in a real world situation... and has to make a real choice? At a literal snap of the fingers?

Until then, it’s just talk.

Music first. the rest is the bone of contention, but again, the map is not the territory. The attitude and the talk is not the war itself. the battle is about the music.

Things are definitely conflated but one is not actually the other. It’s about the music, music first. Serve the music with the gear, but never lose track of that, and you’ll be fine.
berner99
214 posts
 
If you use the analogy of cars plenty of people (well perhaps mainly men) love cars for cars own sake and not just as a means of getting places.  OTOH I paint, and for many, watercolor painting supplies are just a means to paint—though to be sure, there are people who are just as into painting supplies as many are into stereo equipment.  
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