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How rare is an audiophile

I’ve been extremely busy lately and not had a chance to sit back and listen to music  on my system for a few weeks. I’ve streamed my favorite music in the car and on a small JBL Flip-4 portable speaker; which by the way “punches way above its size class.”  I continued to enjoy music whenever, wherever, and however i can during this “dry spell.”

So now its 5 am Sunday morning. I know i’ll be spending most of the day listening on the JBL when my wife and I drive out to a lake house we bought recently and are furnishing and getting ready for 4 generations to enjoy lake life this summer and for years to come. 
I’ve let my system warm up and hit play on my CD player. I now find myself in total bliss listening to Chris Standing’s newest CD “The Lovers Re-mix Collection.”  The effect of the quality of the sound of the music my wife and i are enjoying right now with a cup of coffee is hard to explain, but it brought literal tears of joy.  

I started thinking, how many people are like us?  What % of the population are audiophiles (whatever your definition of an audiophile is)?

I know the answer is heavily dependent on which country you live in. I live in the US along with ~332,000,000 fellow citizens (please, lets not get political on the meaning of population or citizen). 
Are we the 0.1%ers?  Are there ~332,000 audiophiles in the US?

i’d be interested in what others think about how rare our species is.

ezstreams
acefactory
60 posts
 

++++1 @bob540 To me, it's one who recognizes there is much more to enjoying music than the music itself; it's HOW the music sounds as well, regardless of how much one has invested in the equipment.

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff
1,013 posts
 

30 years from now the young people of today will be in their 50’s and "listening" to perfect music transmitted to their brains telepathically. Then they’ll say to each other: "Ah, remember the good ’ole days when we danced around and enjoyed listening to MP3s wearing those really cool-looking ear buds? I miss those times."

mojo771
45 posts
 

My guess is that its more like 1 in 100,000.  I live near Ft. Lauderdale.  While there are 2 good record stores, all the audio stores have closed or converted to smart home / home theater stores.  There is one in Palm Beach and maybe 2 in Miami.  I have tried finding people on facebook rooms such as Turntable Talk, the McIntosh page, and the VPI page to see if anyone live near Ft. Lauderdale or near Charlotte, NC and have never received a response.  Luckily a good friend of mine is an audiophile.  I just didn't know how rrare we were or how lucky I am to have a buddy who also enjoys the hobby.

samureyex's avatar
samureyex
102 posts
 

Very low. 95% male. That must mean 5% female.

Coincidentally I think only 5% of male are audiophile, so 2.5% of the population. 

Thing is 99% of the people listen to music, but to have a passion like us, yea 2.5%

edcyn
1,876 posts
 

To be honest, I really can't get too worked up about how many people share our passion for good recorded sound. As long as there are enough of us to keep the industry both in business, and in their pursuit of better sound. It's always been a niche thing, anyway.

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