Feanor,

I don't think you're a "bad" audiophile at all. You just happen to be well grounded, not easily swayed, and confident in your own abilities. Nothing wrong with that all. Let's also keep in mind that your rig is far from mass market and is one that Joe Shmoe wouldn't even understand.

We've gone over the gear geek vs. music lover debate ad nauseum, so let's skip past that one again, m'kay?

For those like Bernd where this truly is a passion, I can certainly understand his depth of commitment and resources. I mean, why not? It's not like we can take it with us so you might as well indulge your interests for the short time we're all on this rock.

Personally, audio is an interesting diversion, a porthole to a different reality if you will. I'm blessed enough to have the resources to buy pretty well anything I want, but because I'm not as convicted as Bernd or others, I don't see the need to allocate as much as my attention or funds as they do (that's what cars and investments are for!). I enjoy what I have and save for the instances where some part simply becomes obsolete or breaks, rarely do I feel the need to upgrade. Oh sure, I'll build another 2 channel rig sometime, but that's for sh!ts and giggles. It won't mean that I'm dissatisfied with my current rig at all. Like you, I'm highly skeptical of magic sonic snot, green pens, and other geeky voo-doo. To Flo's credit, at least the upgrades he does make sense (unless he's simply not telling us about the other stuff ).

Meh, I'm rambling. Sufficeth to say that if you're a "bad" audiophile, I'm absolutely rotten.