An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a live musical performance, typically in a room with good acoustics. It is widely agreed that reaching this goal is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.
Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting. In general, the values of an audiophile are seen to be antithetical to the growing popularity of more convenient but lower quality music, especially lossy digital file types like MP3, lower definition streaming services, and inexpensive headphones.
Audiophiles take their passion for music one step further. They’re curious about how songs are recorded and the science behind how sounds are reproduced. They’re constantly wondering how audio products are made and enjoy digging into the minutiae of speaker technology, sound engineering and the merits of different audio file formats.
