are audiophiles different than non audiophiles ?

There is a basic flaw in the question. It really needs to be two seperate questions. While interest in equipment usually means at least some interest in music, many avid music lovers have zero interest in equipment.

Completely agree with the first paragraph in Elizabeth's first post. And completely disagree with the second paragraph in same.

Orpheus10, I am not sure wether you disagree, or not, with anything I have stated, but I agree with you.

Mrtennis (and Orpheus10), my point is that a "keen interest in" music, is not necessarily a criterion for defining an audiophile. I know many audiophiles that care much more about the equipment than the music. And their interest in music is almost peripheral.

I am a professional musician, and audiophile. I know many musicians who are also audiophiles. In fact, as a percentage of the population of musicians, there are far more musicians who are audiophiles, than there are audiophiles in the general population.

It is true that many musicians are not interested in being audiophiles. There are many reasons for this:

-Musicians are exposed to live music all the time, and that kind of in-depth familiarity with the sound of real instruments and live music making makes the limitations of even the best audio equipment that much more obvious.
-Some of us love the tweaking, the tinkering, and the simple act of playing with electronic toys (second to the music, of course). If you think that you can get that itch scratched by the latest cable or isolation device, you have no idea the kind of options and possibilities that are available to musicians when it comes to tweaking/fine-tuning their instruments! It is an endless font of possibilities. I assure you that the audible differences between Nordost and Jena cabling (for example) pale in comparison to the differences between one brand of reed (or guitar strings) and another. Particularly when one realizes that the differences are not simply things that we hear, but also things that affect the way the instrument actually responds and feels, and consequently affect one's performance.
-Many musicians listen mainly for study purposes. The need to have the playback quality be just so is way down the list of important considerations. Playback quality needs to be good, but not necessarily of audiophile pedigree for a musician to be able to hear what needs to be heard.

I am always amused by the often used example in audio equipment reviews of the fact that such and such component "allows the listener to distiguish between the sound of an oboe and an English horn". The difference between the sound of an oboe and an English horn is obvious to any orchestral musician catching the first sounds of the Muzak being played inside the Home Depot, while still in the parking lot.