Darko nailed it. 12 examples of wishful thinking in the hi-fi community

while this is one of the cringiest one, it’s worth discussing and a separate post

8. Being an audiophile is “all about the music”

First, audiophiles are KNOWN to be about the gear. How much - it all varies. Second, they are not about the music, but about the sound. Do they like music, sure. But unlike 97% of the population that cares about the music, audiophiles care about how the music sounds. Compared to xyz variations in the room, source, cable, etc. They are looking for the magic sound. 

Third, they care about a zillion things regarding the gear. Where it was made, what the person’s philosophy about crossover and flaws are who designed it, how it looks (why??? - this is a strange one, I care too much about looks, does it affect the sound?), how it triggers more tweaking, soundstage width and depth, the tv between, stuff that would make most normal people to say "you need help, I am not kidding". 
Audiophiles care about the gear, music lovers care about the music. Are there people who are both? Sure.

You can’t take the audiophile out of the hifishop but you will never take the itch out of the audiophile to surround themselves with gear. It’s like gambling. 

@mapman could just be confirmation bias.

@invalid Of course could be confirmation bias listening but not so much in this case I would say based on extensive sample size listening randomly over time to different releases of same album, some vinyl source, some various digital  remasters,  I can usually tell which source is playing when it comes up randomly in my playlists.  

I can tell the vinyl sources even in cases where there is no surface noise clearly audible.  THe unique properties of a specific record come through loud and clear, whether good bad or neutral. 

I always use ultrasonic vinyl cleaning machine on a record prior to digitizing for best results.  I am also often able to tell which specific digital mastering of album I am hearing.

For records in less than perfect condition, where I cannot filter out all teh noise during digitizing process in Audacity,  its a piece of cake to tell a vinyl sourced digital version.   Surface noise present in the source comes through loud and clear along with all the rest.   Have never heard vinyl surface noise otherwise. 

As a result I play a record once in order to convert to digital in my library, then I stream via Roon from there.  I do keep the records afterwards however because 1) I still like having records and 2) in case anything were to hapen and teh digital files lost.  I do backups of my library regularly though so not likely.

Perhaps as I downsize further over time, some records may go just so my kids no longer have to deal with them when I am gone.

@gano +1!

@gano Start it, it's all you pal.

while this is one of the cringiest one, it’s worth discussing and a separate post

8. Being an audiophile is “all about the music”