Is being an audiophile synonymous with having GAS?

Since my youth I have proudly considered myself a 2nd generation audiophile. I inherited the bug from my father, which was a very passionate guy in regards with music reproduction.Back then, audio equipment was not so widely available in the country I lived in, so purchasing gear was a task reserved for only the most passionate of my compadres.
Countless times I have presented myself as an audiophile, without any hesitation. To my surprise, often I have been asked the question: What is an audiophile? Many times, I didn’t bother to give an uninitiated person a thorough definition, but if we think about it, what exactly is an audiophile?
Many audiophiles can be gearheads, which is totally fine, but being a gearhead sometimes overlaps with Gear Acquisition Syndrome (aka GAS). Many of us have exhibited signs of GAS at some points in our lives,so one can wonder: is this a necessary condition to be an audiophile?
Symptoms of GAS often include spending a lot of hours in keeping up to date with the latest gear releases in the market,constantly searching for upgrades of your existing gear and sometimes even acquiring snake-oil solutions in a desperate search for having the best sound reproduction that money can buy.
Is having a state-of-the-art sound reproduction system enough to round up the definition of a true audiophile? Or there is more involved? Does the quality of the recording weigh nothing in the true experience of music reproduction?
It is true that there is a never-ending discussion between analog and digital music reproduction. On one side you have the analog purist who is willing to spend his/hers hard earned money on buying the best recordings available and the digital guys who prefer the convenience of music streaming or playing other digital formats.
I do not think there is any point in underlying the pros and cons of the two sides. What is most important is the reproduction of the sound. After all, sound is physics, music is art.
It is not enough to have a state-of-the-art sound reproduction system. Being an audiophile means also searching for the best recordings available, either analog or digital.
All of us have in the back of our minds the perfect tone of the perfect system,which obviously leads to a relentless search for gear that can perform as we imagine it. Sometimes the search for gear, the constant upgrading and the mods can come to a stop for a certain period, because one can conclude that the electrical performance pf the hi-fi system is enough. What never stops is the search for the best recordings you can get. These recordings can come in many shapes: Master tape copies, vinyl records cut from master tape copies, SACDS, audiophile grade cassettes or streaming services. All of them can lead to the same effect.
The result: how the sound reproduced by your system affects your mood and your state of being. It matters less how the sound is reproduced but what matters is if the end result makes you happy.

GAS Station

Photo by Justin Chrn on Unsplash