Define the word "audiophile."

Define the word "audiophile."
Here's my definition
91% (223 votes)
I have no idea
8% (20 votes)
Here's what it is not
1% (3 votes)
Total votes: 246


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Paul Durose's picture

Audiophile : Someone who takes the care to appreciate all that encompasses music. Time is spent on understanding the intricacies of the listening process, the equipment, and the music form to optimize listening pleasure and beauty.

Mike Agee's picture

The word "audiophile" was not sourced from the word "music". While a love of music is shared by many of us, a quick perusal of Audio Asylum reveals that the love (or disdain, if a component falls short) of the equipment that reproduces music is what we actually have in common. For me, better perhaps than Sam Tellig's "melomane", the word "stereophile" nicely segues between the music and the music box; "stereo" still implies the epiphany of hearing reproduced music expand beyond the parameters of the everyday world.

William B.  Harris's picture

But I would very much like to know.

Tim Rassi's picture

The passion of sound. Not merley electronics, or even music, but the joy of audible purity and truth.

JoeL's picture

Audiophile.: A music lover who likes to listen to, tinker with, audition and read about equipment that reproduces recorded music. It isn't about how much money you spend and shouldn't be snobby.

Steven Paul's picture

An audiophile is one who places emphasis —or even demands—realistic playback of recorded music in order to enjoy that music.

Chris Furia's picture

One who above all else loves music and appreciates the nuances in reproduced music. One who strives to make the reproduction process as faithful and accurate as budget will allow.

fzdybel's picture

An audiophile is a motivated music lover who is able to compare audio reproductions with the sensations of live performances, and make informed technical choices for improving the experience of reproduced music. It follows then that an *ideal* audiophile hears live music regularly and has at least a rudimentary familiarity with the major findings of psychoacoustics and their applications to music recording and reproduction, similarly classical physics, analog electronics, digital signal processing, commonly used signaling and data transmission protocols, and information theory. With the aid of other audiophiles like him or herself, such a person can arrange to have the best experience he or she can afford, make satisfying equipment choices without regrets, forestall premature obsolescence, and achieve balanced performance that gives up nothing essential at any step along the complete signal processing chain from the human artist to the human ear. Alternatively, an audiophile may be in some respects a bit more like a drunk who wanders aimlessly from one illusion to the next.

Jerome B.'s picture

Why complicate things. Audiophile means "love to hear" (usually music). So I am an audiophile because I love to hear music the way it was intended to be heard (live or studio). How subjective is that? It's all subjective! Which is why I don't need a $5000 cable on my system, but I am not satisfied with an iPod either.

David's picture

Someone who really, really enjoys the 10-year old reviews of equipment from manufacturers who are no in business, which seem to make up at least half the material on

Jim's picture

People who buy music that makes their system sound good.

Matt's picture

I think it has more to do with the appreciation of sonic quality as opposed to your expenditures. A true audiophile appreciates the value of good sound, whether their speakers were $200/pair like the Audioengine A2s, or $100,000. I'd venture so far as to say that true audiophiles don't spend at the highest ceilings for their products, rather those are targeted at people with too much disposable income, who need to be validated by their material belongings.

JRG's picture

Someone whose hobby is high-end audio equipment.

Carter's picture

Spend? Heavens no. Although if you are one, you will spend. Any rich fool can spend tons. An audiophile actually knows what the money goes for.

tim's picture

Audiophile describes a person who will take whatever measures their resources allow to achieve a system which will reproduce high fidelity music.

Jonathan's picture

A financially reckless obsession with sound, music and the technology to reproduce it.

H.  Williams, Hollywood Hills's picture

Audiophile: One who places more value in audio equipment than in music.

KG's picture

People who thouroughly enjoy the perfection of audio in all its glory and often times enjoy the pursuit of audio perfection and the artistry of audio perfection more than the actual science of audio perfection.

Brianisastereophile's picture

One that analyzes the musical resonances picking up on the smallest bits of distortion and tweaking until the recorded sound is as realistic as in acutually reality to the oint of sound like a concert.

BILL CRANE's picture

An audiophile has to love seriously listening to music. However, there is also the constant thought that one is never satisfied with their system; there is always that cable, amp or speaker that would lift another veil and one would then hear more of the detail of the recording. (To that end, it could be a mental condition.) Many audiophiles, by their nature, are very sensitive to both beautiful sounds as pleasurable and irritating sounds as painful and disturbing.

James Neal's picture

An audiophile is quite simply an individual who achieves pleasure from a music based system on a regular bases. That pleasure can be listening to, collecting or tinkering with audio gear.

Chris Kenney's picture

One, usually a compulsive male, who may live in mansion or shack, drive an ancient rust bucket or new BMW 7 Series, but is neurotically obsessive about his music and quality of its reproduction to the border of dysfunction.

Noah Bickart's picture

A "High Fidelity" Enthusiast; one who seeks to listen to great music on excellent equipment.

Ricky M.'s picture

Definition of an audiophile is someone who seeks the true reproduction of sound with great accuracy and great detail of the original recording at any budget. It's all about the experience.

Douglas Bowker's picture

An audiophile will spend at least as much on their hardware as their software (music), often more just to get better sound out of their collection. How this plays out is as varied as the individual...

ScottO's picture

It's simply caring about how your music sounds, regardless of price, gear, or genre.

Ted's picture

One who believes that better sound can always be achieved and that the pursuit of better sound is a worthy endeavor.

S.  Chapman's picture

Someone who used to be a music lover, but who's now embittered and disillusioned, like J. Gordon Holt, because they sought satisfaction in ever more-expensive and exotic gear, instead of in music itself.

max reismayer's picture

yet unrecognized clinical syndrome of addiction to gadgets that aid to stimulate certain bodily orifices with rhythmically modulated impulses.

Johnny Buss's picture

A person always searching for more sonic pleasure. The search of sound !


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