"audiophiles listen to their equipment"

I’d suggest there’s a spectrum. Those of us who play are more inclined to think of music in terms of its formal elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, etc. Of course we love beautiful sounds but that is not the essence. For us, say, the psychoacoustical experience of a tri-tone interval has little to do with sonics. On the other hand, those who do not play but grew up with a parent or friend who was an audiophile and whose initial exposure and process of falling in love with music (or however you prefer to describe it) was inextricably linked to refined sonics will understandably tend to define music more in terms of sonics. There are those who possess an engineering mindset for whom music happens to be the particular arena in which they choose to utilize their inventiveness. They may tend to regard music more in terms of a challenge to their technical expertise/creativity. Three possible points along a spectrum.

I've always been confused by this whole "listening to your equipment" argument.  I'm not listening to my speaker, I'm listening to the music coming out of the speaker.  And why wouldn't I want that to sound as good as it possibly can?  Would I rather listen to someone just learning to play the violin, or Perlman?  The idea they are both music so I shouldn't be concerned over the quality, is silly.  IMHO

@bigtwin x10

When evaluating my system for faults or opportunities for improvement, I listen critically, typically to well-culled tunes with ranges of frequencies. When exploring new music I want something that touches me in an emotional way. And if it strikes me in a good way it immediately goes into a playlist for further culling in or out later. And then sometimes a nice glass of bourbon and hitting random play is equally enjoyable (Calgon, take me away). Those are my 3 categories of listening depending on my mood.

The only possible argument is maybe what s correct in pitch or tone ?

some like it more neutral like a dac or speaker that may provide more focused imaging ,vs say a dac that may not be as lock on focus imaging but 

easy to listen to without having to analyze the music 🎶 it just flows ,this too is why

system synergy is so important.