$$$ vs music enjoyment

Onemug,

It would be nice if you created virtual systems so we know where you're coming from.

"And what would those things be? We all have "better" things to spend money on - family, health, necessities. The answer is probably that they listen to music for a living so it's possible that they might not want to spend hours upon hours listening to more music when they get home, just like chefs probably don't want to cook and eat fancy dinners when they get home from work, or carpenters do not necessarily have to surround themselves with exquisite woodwork. But I would very much like to hear from musicians (but how if they are not audiophiles?), or those who have musician friends and can shed some light on the issue. "

2 Things. Musicians, like most people, don't know that high end audio exists. Even if they did, musicians overall, don't make a lot of money. I don't see what difference it makes if an audiophile is a musician or not. Also, the article on the death of high end audio is almost 20 years old. Maybe Stereophile was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

When I was a kid, before the advent of the credit card, if someone bought something expensive like a nice car or stereo, others might say they were buying it to "show off", never considering that the person might actually enjoy owning the product, even if nobody else knew. With the advent of easy credit, nearly everyone can own a nice car or nice hifi, so I don't really see the status argument flying anymore. Take a look at how many people are driving 50K+ E-Class Mercedes. Are you impressed? As to the issue of whether spending more = more enjoyment in terms of hifi. Spending more can make things better or worse, depending on how you go about it. Spending more on mismatched components and speakers that won't work in your room is a downgrade. BUT, in my experience, careful selection of better components that have been matched to my system, my room and my tastes have always allowed me to enjoy the music more. It has nothing particularly to do with the music per-se. Great music is great music. It's more like listening to great music in a so-so hall or great music in a hall with beautiful acoustics. I think most everyone would choose the latter, assuming they can hear at all - which you should never assume. Had to throw that in :)

That there aren't musicians who are also audiophiles is a myth; that they "don't know that the high-end exists" is an even bigger myth. This notion keeps coming up time and again, and is completely false. Consider how many people in the general population are audiophiles; a very small percentage. There are far more audiophiles within the community of musicians, as a percentage of that population, than there are audiophiles in the general population; and while probably not to be considered "high-end", the vast majority of musicians have playback gear that is infinitely better than what the average non-musician owns. Now, some would expect most (if not all) musicians to be dedicated audiophiles. Clearly, this is not the case, and there are various reasons why some (many?) musicians are not interested; the main reason is related to the OP's basic premise:

One of the very reasons that draws many (not all) audiophiles to the hobby is one the reasons that many musicians are not interested in the hobby. Not because these musicians think that there is anything wrong with this, but because they already have, in their craft, an outlet for that particular need; the need to constantly improve, to tweak, to achieve perfection. Anyone who thinks that audiophiles are compulsive in their quest for perfection and obsession with equipment, would be shocked at the fact that this level of obsession is nothing compared to what musicians go through in the quest for just the right guitar, strings, horn, mouthpiece, reed, etc.; and the setup of these. There are only so many hours ($) in the day.

If there is a correlation between the quality of the equipment and the level of musical enjoyment, it is dependent on the individual's personality. In other words, some listeners are able to appreciate music to it's fullest on the most humble systems and, in fact, find the complexity or even the visual impact of an expensive system to be a distraction from that enjoyment. Some of us like the process and technical aspects of assembling a complex system and optimizing it, and that process maximizes the listening experience. For those of us a better system does, in fact, heighten the listening experience; up to a point, since it can be a bit of a catch-22. It takes work and effort to assemble and maintain a great system, and it can easily go from being enjoyable effort in the service of the music to being an obsession of the kind that takes away from the musical enjoyment. IMO, although I am not prepared to give up my expensive audio toys anytime soon, there is value in remembering that, at the end of the day, they are NOT absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of the music.

"That there aren't musicians who are also audiophiles is a myth; that they "don't know that the high-end exists" is an even bigger myth. This notion keeps coming up time and again, and is completely false. Consider how many people in the general population are audiophiles; a very small percentage. There are far more audiophiles within the community of musicians, as a percentage of that population, than there are audiophiles in the general population; and while probably not to be considered "high-end", the vast majority of musicians have playback gear that is infinitely better than what the average non-musician owns."

I'm not saying you are wrong but I have no idea where you get that info from. I know plenty of musicians and I don't know 1 that has any idea what high end audio is. They seem to have more of a pro sound mentality when it comes to audio. I can only go by my own experience, though, because, as far as I know, there are no stats that can give us any indication as to what type of audio systems musicians have. My best guess would be that musicians get into high end audio the same way regular people do, myself included; by accident. You either wander into a store that sells high end gear or see it in someones home.