Audiophile

An audiophile most generally is a lover of sound or music, but the word is more commonly used about someone who cares about hi-fi playback of audio recordings, rather than live performances[?].

Audiophiles are constantly searching for ways to improve their hi-fi system. There are discussion forums, magazines and clubs for audiophiles to share their discoveries. Unfortunately because they focus on the subjective sound of the system, and because this experience is heavily colored by context they may have difficulty reliably distinguishing real improvements.

As a result, audiophiles have claimed improvements from a wide variety of changes, from the ordinary (adjusting speaker placement), to the unusual (storing CDs in a freezer prior to playback), to the bizarre (attaching plastic tags to the power cables of non-audio equipment, such as toasters).

Audiophile is also used as an adjective in descriptions of audio equipment and recorded music, where it is intended to imply high quality.