Being an audiophile goes beyond what many people can imagine :) in order to accurately deliver the most demanding waveforms music can call for- some people consider classical music the most demanding task a playback system can perform- audiophiles have turned to everything from $60,000 Infinity Reference Standard speaker systems (four huge towers packed with speaker drivers) for the 'loud' side of things (not like rock concert loudness, however, more like what you hear from a symphony orchestra at full crank)- to amplifiers like the comparably expensive, but only 12 watt per channel, Ongaku tube amplifier, in which the tubes are obscure and rare triode power tubes and the transformers are wound from silver wire with tweezers, by hand- for the 'subtlety' side of things. It is much like comparing a Lamborghini Countach with a Yugo or Toyota- if you only need to go to the store, the Countach is not only ludicrously expensive but actually totally unsuitable and awkward. However, if you are on a race track or simply want to go 200 mph, all the mockery becomes irrelevant, and only the Countach (or something comparable and just as expensive) will do. And that is what this sound equipment is like- it must be experienced on its own terms.