According to the 3 bottles of beer I just had...I am ALL of the above and more, in measured degrees, depending on budget & time, depending on tweaking itches. I am also a bit of an evangelist for the
prudent pursuit of hi-fi.
Hearing music and
listening to music are 2 different experiences; most people only really know the first one. These HEARERS are always music-lovers...and that is good. But not all music-lovers are just
hearers.
Some lucky
hearer bastards also discover the joys of the second experience...and become LISTENERS. These can be music-lovers as well as audiophiles. (Not so the ignorants who CLAIM to listen, instead they simply overspend and brag...these are merely confused for audiophiles.)
If a system is capable of reproducing good recorded music in ways that
involve a person for long periods of LISTENING time, this is a good "instrument".* The more involvement for longer periods, the better. When you do the listening you are a music-lover...not necessarily an audiophile just yet.
The minute you attempt to get system improvements to better LISTEN to the music, you become a
music-loving audiophile.
It doesn't matter if you begin with that BOSE radio-alarm. If you start
listening and decide you want more, and you DO something -- even minor -- to improve it (perhaps just removing it from the boomy corner and settling for the less bassy smoother sound), you turn into a
music-loving audiophile.
And that ain't bad...or so says Anheuser-Busch
* Perhaps because I was trained in classical music, I never expect ANY system to replicate the sound and experience of, say, a concert hall performance. However, I came to the conclusion that
concert hall performance plus a recording of it plus the particular playback system including room become a
NEW musical instrument. Thus, the goal (in a simplified way) is to get increasingly better sounding musical instruments (the combined totality) to enjoy
listening to the music. This will nurture a desire for more improvements.
