Engineer specializing in metallurgy, former IT and now analyst programmer. I have always encountered live and reproduced music. Grandfather had string quartet rehearsals at home, Absolute hearing in the family history.
I used to change needles on a record player as a kid, I discovered near field listening before I ever heard of such a thing.
I learned to listen to music on bluegrass (that is, break the music down into individual instruments and voices and then put it back together again). This opened the way for me to listen to more demanding genres.
In my opinion, an audiophile is defined by the way he/she/it/them 🙂 listens. Everything else is temporary and variable over time.
English