Audiophile/music lover/doesn't enjoy music

Is there a difference between someone that loves music and an audiophile? Who defines everything? Is it anything like professional wine tasters? An art turned into a science, or maybe we want to believe that it is more of a science than it is. Do we taste the same thing identical? Is our hearing all the same? And what about personal peferences? Surely these things are subjective, but trying to be as objective as possible. Correct me if I'm wrong, but an audiophile is interested in the equipment used to play music. Just as a musician obsesses over what their music sounds like, an audiophile obsesses over what reproduces these sounds as best as possible. Maybe every music lover has a little audiophile in them, and can easily determine that some speakers and headphones sound better than others, but they don't obsess over it. Audiophile also tends to require a substantial amount of disposable income, which not everyone will have. Maybe there is ignoance on the subject, maybe audiophiles are crazy. Maybe the whole human race is crazy. I mean, if your idea of fun is listening to sounds, however carefully arranged that they are, for hours straight is fun, welcome to the human experience. We do weird things and if we could not agree that this is fun, we would all look weird sitting in front of speakers, wearing headphones, or God forbid, dancing. What started out enjoyable took a turn for the worse, and that is what this post is about. When it comes to enjoying our favorite things, can we take a wrong turn and end up insulting artists, and proving that we don't actually enjoy the hobby? Yes, this is about the dark side of life. Using unusual coping mechanisms to deal with depression, and otherwise finding less satisfaction in life. And audiophile stuff is one of these unusual coping mechanisms. Ok, don't lie, you stopped enjoying things. There used to be magic to it, but everything turned into an effort to recreate that lost magic. You smoked weed for a while, and it started out fun, but then continued usage was only about trying to get high like at first. Maybe we have common ground. We were innocent as children, and we grew up into terrible adults. To each their own, whatever you do to stay sane is fine as long as it is not hurting other people. I use music as a coping mechanism. I would not necessarily define myself as either a music lover or an audiophile, but music is primarily my favorite "thing" in life. But I also burned out on music, and I don't always enjoy it. I used to really love music. Music is magical, it evokes elated feelings, it turns boring daily life into a movie script, and it leaves psychological changes in the mind. The last song on an album tends to be such sweet farewell, because the album has to end eventually. But somehow, this magic died to me. I started reading the bible intently, and my life started changing in the direction of depression. I lost interest in music because the magic was gone. I put away my set of bluetooth speakers, I never replaced my lost set of headphones, and I sat in silence a lot, meditating. I clung onto the idea that my love for music could come back, and I occasionally listened to the radio, or looked for new music on youtube. I was just using my phone speakers. My love for music did come back eventually, but with one caveat, I don't listen to much variety of music at all. I have a small list of what I like to listen to, and what I normally listen to most of the time. I pulled my bluetooth speakers back out, I purchased a new set of headphones, and I was enjoying music. I still enjoy music, but I must say that one thing pulled my attention to the fact that I never regained my former appreciation of music. And it started with the curiosity of what more expensive headphones sound like. And for a while, this did not turn into an obsession. I had a pair of under $100 wired earbuds that I was content to use for a while. I also had Apple earpods that came free with my iPod, and $10 Sony earbuds that I have been using since college. This is not supposed to be about any audiophile information. This is about life satisfaction. And the cumulation of what I learned searching the internet for information about sound, and various audiophile subjects. As I'm researching various things, I'm actually aware that I'm doing it out of boredom. I have nothing better to do. What ever will I do when I run out of stuff to research? Sit back and just enjoy the music? God forbid. I had to admit to myself that I don't enjoy music that much. And this is the scenario that I would pose to anyone that might be a hobbyist for the wrong reasons. When my love for music was in full swing, it didn't matter much what the music was or where it came from, as long as there was music. Take a bus to class, see someone playing music on the sidewalk, hey, it's live music. The absense of music is worse than not having the ideal setup figured out. And for someone without a disposable income, they might appreciate to hear that the cheap headphones and speakers are perfectly fine. Trying to upgrade has diminishing returns, and something is better than nothing. And worst of all is using a disposable income to suppplement not actually enjoying music. Many people still love vinyl, even though vinyl has it's flaws too. Many grow to enjoy the flaws of vinyl. A generation that grew up with the mp3 cannot distinguish any flaws with the minimal format. And in the days where streaming music is common (and should be more common, hopefully the artists are compensated fairly for their work) surely we are music lovers. Same is true with wireless headphones. Having music is better than not having music. Train your ears to hear the subtltie of sound. Part of the fun of music is how complex it is, that while we hear it play, we cannot follow every detail, and new stuff pops out. But, don't pretend to be a music lover and constantly test the sound. Musicians might not be able to take it personally, but some probably could. It leads people astray. And the average mp3 or streamed music with wireless headphones it quite advanced technology. Tread lightly.