i would expect that this 'Kidulting' article relates the mental view of an audiophile with a hifi system to a kid playing with toys. the whole imaginary world stuff. and what the innocence and mind tripping playing with toys does for a kid to the mentality of having cool hifi toys and a room to do it in.
and i'd say that is exactly right.
and to the degree this actually happens, is a measure of how successful an audiophile's intensions are realized. i know that my walk out to my barn, and entering my room, never get's old. at all. it's an escape into my own world of play. and i don't have to think any deeper than that. i'm occupied by my play. and sometimes my friends visit to play with me. my wife might want to listen to FOX NEWS, but i can and do escape......it......all. she certainly gets it.
sure; there is an art aspect, and the real learning part, and some technical, but those also are part of kid-play too.
when i was contemplating retirement i was concerned that maybe my being an audiophile was just a balance to work stress, and i would not relate as strongly to my audiophile journey when i did not need to do the mental healing. i just did not know how that part would go. now 16 months in this has been a non issue. i'm at least equally drawn to it, maybe more since i know i have much more freedom to dive into it. the specter of work stress is removed and my mind is unleashed to go all the way down the path. and after 50 years of 6 days a week work focus, i have zero guilt with my time commitment to being an audiophile.....especially with no grandkids.
the smartest people i have met, are the most humble, and are intellectually honest. they realize just how much they don't know or maybe even not yet knowing the right questions to ask. so they seem to always talk about what they don't know, when i ask them questions. instead of giving me an answer. then they half or one third answer the question. and it then makes me think deeper about the problem.
i can tell they have already thought about the problem, and have tried to solve it. but not yet reached that solution point. their vision is different than mine. but i usually learn something from them.
a few of these guys are audiophiles.
not sure how i do on that subject. hard to be objective about yourself.
at some point to make progress on anything, conclusions must be made. but hopefully they leave room for additional possibilities regarding unknown pieces.
then others are very sure they have answers, maybe even before the question is fully asked. not sure whether that's me or not.
i can say definitively that my wife always knows the right questions and has the right answers. and i make sure she knows i know that.