I certainly never have a problem when someone labels me an Audiophile although I don't think of myself as one. In fact, I am not sure I even know what an Audiophile is. I am certainly a tweak, an obsessed improver, passionate about sound, an inventor, someone who cherishes time with my stereo system, a music lover, a gear lover, excited to show off my system, but an Audiophile?
We probably all know people who take a great deal of pride in proclaiming they are not Audiophiles, as if the very label itself was a poisonous one. Yet those same people have stereo systems that would make the eyes cross of an MP3 playing pedestrian.
We probably also know people who proudly proclaim their Audiophileness to anyone who cares to listen to them (or their systems).
And there are those who eschew all the monickers and proclaim they are interested in nothing more than just the music itself. And these same people have built great systems to reproduce this music that they are quick to point out they are only interested in.
People like us are hard to label, but I believe we all share at least two things in common: a love of music and an eagerness to share our passion of high quality reproduction.
There are billions of people in this world that share our love of music and an equal number that would appreciate a higher quality of reproduction if they heard it.
Which means there are billions of people just like us: they just don't know it.
