Anyone in this hobby lonely like me and wish they could “hang” with a fellow audiophile?

In the Seattle area there are at least three audiophile clubs.  The Pacific Northwest Audio Society in the largest in Seattle.  The Olympia Music Club in Olympia has at least 20 members and largely focuses on music rather than gear with monthly listening parties.  The Puget Sound Audio Club that I currently manage serves the areas on the other side of the Sound from Seattle and we have 10-15 members and so far have had more of a focus on gear than music but that may change.  I have found audiophiles to be welcoming and generous and eager to share their gear and music.  If no such club exists in your area I would urge you to try and start one.  It has been incredibly rewarding on many levels to get to know such a great group of people. 

@ghdprentice "Audiophiles tend to be very solitary individuals." My favourite type

Great post! Great reply @bojack I completely agree. I also must listen alone. It’s just our “thing” I guess. I just cannot connect to the music while others are in the room. Not in the intimate way I do, lights off, curtains closed, door shut and locked even though I live alone😂

But that’s the great part about my system pulling double as an HT as well. Nothing better than having people over and watching a great movie with the system cranked up in full throttle mode! 

My experience has been the opposite- when I was young, there was a thriving audio community in Pittsburgh in the late '60s and early '70s where I was in school, lots of hobbyists who would get together, the hi-fi thing being the common theme for socializing. When I moved to NYC in 1981, it was burgeoning with stores, both gear and record stores and I met lots of folks, fortuitously, the woman I would marry worked part time for a "golden ears" who was the backbone of the NY Audio Society. That fellow, Chuck Lamonica, was a wonderful, generous spirit and the meetings, usually held at a member's house in Rye, NY, were a hoot. We would have a yearly dinner with the Chinese Audio Society at a big dining hall in Chinatown where the Asian guys would order the craziest stuff to see if us gringos would eat it. Met the guy in charge of used records at Tower on Lower Broadway and when records were being phased out, bought tons of stuff with his help and made regular trips to the Princeton Record Exchange.

Time passed, I had less time for audio, spent a fair amount of time with fast little Italian sports cars and had a similar experience in attending events, meeting people and socializing. 

Moved to Austin, starting in 2012 as I began to phase out of my law practice and though I met a few audio enthusiasts here, I don't regularly participate in any events, frequent any retail establishments but on occasion, do travel to Dallas to visit with Albert Porter.

I guess I'm the opposite in that my world has "shrunk" as I've gotten older. I'm now in my '70s, still avidly listen, have a substantial record collection and do converse with like minded people, but much of it is remote now, not in person. Part of that may be age, part of it may be how our culture works now with the Internet being the glue rather than in person encounters. 

I think you are asking the right questions. Don't know if there is an audio group near you or a retail store where you might find others pursuing your interest. I think in some ways, though I was a pretty focused listener and serious buyer of some rare records, the social part of the hobby was in some ways the most important. 

Sadly, too, as I've aged, I've lost friends with whom I shared some of these experiences. I'm ok being a bit of a hermit but it isn't the best approach to living a full life. I leave in a couple hours for a driving event in the Ozarks, where I expect to meet some new friends who share a common interest. I do think a lot of us don't talk about loneliness, isolation and life enough-- it is certainly an issue for people as they age. I can only encourage you to reach out and try to connect through whatever means you can, including this board-- the "community" aspects are rewarding both as a recipient and as a contributor. 

I created a private hifi FB group six years ago when I resurrected my rig from a 15 year hiatus. The group has close to 1k members world wide now. It has led to meeting other audiophiles in NYC during a hifi vacation last year. I'll be going back there again in the next few months.

A buddy and I also created a local audiophile group. We have about 10 active members in the group. One of the members rented office space downtown for an audiophile club about a year ago. There is a ton of gear and albums in the club from various members and any one of us can go there anytime. Somebody joked it's a holding place for gear we don't want our wives to know about regarding our recent purchases! Last Saturday a few of us met up there for a couple of hours and then walked to a bar and listened to live music before going home for the night. 

It's been a blast hanging with the boys. A bunch of us also host listening sessions at our homes too.