I lately wonder why I’m an Audiophile.

It is sad and immature that folks such as @slaw and @chrisoshea, maybe another one or two, make comments that are simply out of line, towards the op. If you do not like a thread started by an AG member, don’t participate. Simple!.....If you do not like the term "audiophile"; are in denial of being one; or prefer another descriptive word, that is your business, and it's fine. Enjoy!  

@dayglow A musical stock take

No harm in asking, but to be honest l have never counted in detail. My estimate which l use for insurance purposes with high definition photos is currently in the region of  <2,000 LPs, and  >2,000 CDs and SACDs. Also other music items such as Reel to Reel/Cassette tape and DVD/Blu-ray.

One thing l will add is this is music l still delve into and not material l have moved/grown away from. Those have been donated to charity shops or sold on eBay.

It is funny to see people here self identify as non audiophiles.  This is an audiophile site.  People who don’t value excellence in sound production don’t post here.

  Why the fear of being labeled an audiophile?  Is it because it connotes an individual that impulsively spends more than they can afford chasing an elusive and subjective goal?  Or an individual who bored to tears those who don’t share the hobby?

  Those individuals exist, as they do in other hobbies, but they aren’t the norm.  Most oenophiles are not problem drinkers.  I know many car enthusiasts, at all levels of the socio economic spectrum, and none enough to financially distress them or their families.

  We are all audiophiles, and heck we should embrace it, not engage in self deception.

@mrdecibel 

My genre of choice is rather different from Medeski Martin and Wood, and my peak dB is perhaps 10dB less to preserve what is left of my hearing, but yes, the EMOTION is significantly conveyed by the characteristics that a good high end system reveals, that the car radio does not.  I am puzzled by the "very little note overhang", the way that notes are sustained, the delicious way in which (e.g.) the harmonics of a piano note decay differently is a source of delight. And, indeed, a frustration with audiences that insist on applauding halfway though the last chord of a performance.

@scottlfinsf

While I do not listen to very old recordings, my library goes back only to the late '50s, listening to different performances of the same work, hearing what different performers find in a composition is fascinating, and enhanced by a revealing system.  I will sometimes listen to the same piece played by different artists back-to-back.  Recent examples, Glenn Gould & Angela Hewitt playing the Goldberg Variations - both recorded the work twice.  Truly startling is different renderings of the C Major prelude from book 1, the notes are the same but ....

I used this as a counterexample for a jazz enthusiast friend who was maintaining that classical musicians "just played the notes" while jazz musicians created music through their extemporization.  I am in no way denigrating jazz or its performers, I listened to jazz and went to jazz concerts in earlier times, and what the musicians do is remarkable.

Audiophilia is at the same time a passion but may become an addiction also...

 What differentiate a passion from an addiction in audio?

 We suffer from these two each one of us audiophiles...

 A passion for sound and music is grounded in the learning process pertaining to any system/room/ears brain:  the mechanical and electrical  working dimension but especially the acoustics (not just mere room acoustic by the way ) but at the service of our musical experiences expansion then not in itself for  just the sake of sound improvement...

But an addiction for audio  is defined by the obsession about the gear pieces and the upgrade circle often at the expanse of the learning process because we think sound quality must come more from possible upgrading than optimizing what we already have... It is easier to buy than to learn and study and experiment...it is easy to conflate learning with buying...

I am as all of you an audiophile who put the emphasis on the passion controlling my addiction  by learning not just buying ...