Music lover or audiophile?


I think you have to decide, are you a music lover or audiophile?  I know the majority will say, both.
 I’m not so sure though. The nature of audiophilia is to get in there and fiddle with the tools, like any other hobbyist.  The difference in our hobby though is that presumably, our ultimate goal is to have the best musical experience we can get. The hobbyist is never really finished. The manipulation of the materials is the fun. The music lover, however, wants to get the most out of that esthetic experience.  
By continually plying materials, the audiophile is on an endless quest for better sound.
 After years of this quest, I’ve decided I can be a music lover or an audiophile.  I’m happy listening to my system now the way it is.  So, I’ve decided to be a music lover once again.
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Both are not mutually exclusive for me.  Improving my system affords me the opportunities to enjoy my music even more than before.  I recently went the all silver wire route with my interconnects.  That upgrade improved the resolution of the system and thus I now can here minute details in music heretofore obscured.  More musical enjoyment as I now can hear more of what the musicians performed.👂🏻👂🏻


My audio dealer, Jeff Harris of Reference Analog in Oklahoma, has summed it well, imho:

"I really like experimenting with different playback equipment and setups. The gear does bring me as much joy as the music. I don’t own the gear simply to recreate the music, but I don’t play music simply to test gear either. My passion for the gear has opened up a lot of music and my passion for music has opened me up to a lot of different gear. I can’t say I would be as into either without the other."
I agree with OP on that it is difficult to be both audiophile and music lover.

After finishing renovation of audio hardware, I will go back to music lover by not spending on major change of audio equipment.

I had bought 1000 redbook CDs at 2,500$ during last 6 months.

I will try to enjoy new collections of music.

From 2013 to June 2018, I had not changed any major components except inexpensive music server (Cocktail Audio X12)

During the period, I could enjoy music without paying attention to its sound.


Thomas
Music lover first and always. The equipment is a means of enhancing and magnifying the experience. I mainly use 4 different systems for specific types of media and musical genre and listening styles (passive or active).