Audiophilism is a hobby

"Great music is of course a vital part of the experience, but with all the manipulations we do with our systems, we  are fascinated by the idea of sound in itself as a hobby."

Unless you sitting in front of a live performance without any amplification, the music is being manipulated. All the music we hear has been recorded, molded, shaped, mixed according to someones ears that are not are own.

Lets face it, IMHO everyone listens to music using a  ratio of sound & music. It's hard to have on without the other.

I mean if you love going on a road trip, you gotta have a means to an end. So how do you hit your happy trails? Thumbing, biking, riding a motorcycle, driving your car, RV, or OHV. Heck, or even cruising on a Greyhound bus (You can't say you've lived a full life without riding on a Greyhound at least once). Your ride is the  equivalent  to the "hobby" to listening to music.

How does that old saying go - the journey is the reward?

@elrod ....*S* Have enjoyed all of those ’transport modes’ ’cept for the OHVs’...adding boats of sail, motors, paddles....aircraft; 'copters, gliders thru liners....

...although re the latters, never had the compulsion to jump out of one of those in flight, ’chute or no....🤪  Prefer a certain 'stability' in my non-stationary shuffles...

Some of the ’better excursions in music’ haven’t required getting my butt out of a chair, and have on some included some ’in flight’ additions of ’adult enhancements’....but susspect not being ssolitaire in that sssuspicion....;)

But, Yes,,,,,Most of the fun Is ’getting There’....and the ’exercise’ just make one hunger for ’more of dat DAC, pul-leze...’ 👍😎😏😈

(Fan of sibilance in speech and the silent space of typed trivial 'transports'....sounds 'n stereos, not so mucch.....)

Wow, staying on Audiogon is paying off. 😊 I’ll get Blue Heron Suite and Build Me Up From Bones, and take it from there. I’ve seen Sarah’s name mentioned numerous times over the years, but just never connected with her.

Now if I could get people to listen to Iris DeMent, I’d feel like I’ve made a difference.

For those who haven’t heard Julie Miller, here’s a rather disturbing video about her. Do artists have to be tortured to be genius? Going on the evidence of Julie and Lucinda, apparently so.

The assumption or theory that paying attention to your gear can have a negative effect on  how you feel about music seems ridiculous. If that's the case you need  therapy. As a long time musician I can create music (the absolute sound?...hmmm) myself without my hifi rig (dozens of guitars, mandolin, ukulele, drums, bass...blah blah). The joy of this hobby is taking the reproduction of great recordings and having fun with them by making them sound as good as you think is necessary. My relatively modest system sounds astonishingly good and once in a while I improve it. I  Recently added a Schiit Loki Max having no idea how much fun it would be (I sorta knew as I have a couple of Lokis)...I recommend this thing to anybody...but you MUST add "chicken head" knobs to it for even more fun.

+1 @hilde45

We figured in a previous thread that there less than a million audiophiles in the US and of that group only a small number care enough to post about it on internet sites. Attempting to deny a love of sound on this site is akin to attempting the requirement to breathe oxygen. So why the angst? There are those who feel some guilt about the tired old canard that they enjoy reproduced sound more than the actual musical content, that they may be just as happy listening to sounds of trains, or voice sans music.
I doubt that there are sound without music aficionados. Even if one enjoys the sound of a well reproduced news broadcast, that person is bound to listen to some type of music.

If we enjoy the nuances of the ways that different gear reproduce the music that we love, and are willing to pay to appreciate those nuances, there is nothing wrong with that. People wear $5K watches because they appreciate the craftsmanship involved, when they could just get the time from a much cheaper watch or their cell phone. They drink expensive wine when they can get Kirkland, and expensive autos when a Toyota will perform the same transportation function. Why do audiophiles feel guilty about their hobby.?  Do car, watch and wine lovers spend time trying to justify dedication to their hobbies? I am genuinely wondering