How Do You Live The Audiophile Life

Contact me. I am in Northern New Jersey and I manufacturer DACs, phono stages, preamps and amps. I can demonstrate what things sound like to help educate you. These ae reference component. I also have a few good dealers that can help you if you are serious. Maybe even take a ride to Fremmers.

Happy Listening,.

Not sure about the Audiophile Life; I'm definitely on the outside looking in on that one.
Just as a "by the way" - SkyFi Audio in Glen Rock NJ was born of the ashes of the old Stereo Warehouse on Broadway, so there's one less hifi store in New York (wink). SkyFi have the SW neon sign blazing in side their store, and a boat load of new and used equipment there too; all, well most, way out of my price range. I do get a lot of joy out of listening to them though.  (that wasn't a plug for SkyFi, it was a plug for NJ high-end hifi stores - shout out to Audio Connection and Audio Nexus also).

Someone mention love of the sound as a contributing factor (and I guess the pursuit of that sound), while I do love the sound, I love good music even more. I have a few albums that to my ears were shoddily recorded but had contained fantastic songs...I sometimes get frustrated that those songs weren't presented in the best light (sound) possible, but I'll never not play them because the sound isn't right; the songs are just too good (to me)!
I met a guy in a Best Buy of all places who figured me to be a kindred spirit based on the handful of cables I was about to purchase (go figure, in Best Buy; tells you a lot doesn't it...LOL).  We proceeded to have a lengthy discussion about audio and audio equipment and audio engineering, this conversation went on for ages (we closed the store!!).  My take away from that was, I am me and that guy is an audiophile (when you're familiar with the designers and the movements of the various engineers ("...yeah, he started out here (company A) before he got his own thing going (well known company B).  You are in deep my friend, thanks for the education but unless that lottery win comes my way (and that will like the virgin birth as i don't play), I'll be scrounging near the bottom of the barrel for scraps (decent mid-fi sounding scraps mind you - nudge nudge, wink wink).

This room has me losing the game before the opening kickoff. A lack of decorating options that forces the speakers too close together and aimed directly at the dining table or empty wall/window space, leaving all the comfortable sitting positions in front of one speaker or the other. 
Plus, the room is too small to allow for any serious rearrangement. When I got the new NAD stuff, the clarity demanded that I give the speakers a few more inches of distance from the wall behind them. A few inches! All of my books had to go to make room.

Every year I ask the kids if they’d like to move to the suburbs. Their own room, a yard, room to run! Every year they threaten to beat me up if I even think about it.

The serious audiophile would get rid of it all, put one chair at one end, the two speakers at the other (one blocking off the hallway), forming the perfect isosceles triangle, and the hell with everything else. If the 16-year old boy would have to go, it’s worth thinking about. 
The biggest joke of all is how much I pay for this place. Ah, NYC living!

To the OP...

The best advice I've ever heard (and I wish I heard this years ago), was:

It all sounds fake. Just pick your favorite kind of fake.

I think it's important to take everyone's advice with a grain of salt, especially the ones that are the most heavy-handed.

I would say that it is important to listen to a few good separates in the shops and also (if possible) at home.  There are too many possibilities so know from the start that you won't be able to listen to them all.  Also, real-world budgets and real-world listening spaces will not achieve the "nose-bleed-high-end-best-of-show" sound that you might aspire to.  Overall, take a test drive on a few components based on reasonable reviews and find what you like to hear (not necessarily what others say you should hear).

In my experience, speakers make the most difference and needs to be tailored to your listening tastes.  However, one needs to be mindful of budget and space constraints (e.g., speakers you dream of may be too big for your space).  Amplifier needs to be matched for your speakers.  DACs need to be accurate.  As for connectors and speaker wire, my ears do not let me hear the difference between decent entry level items and the really expensive esoteric stuff: for example, there was a big difference between crap speaker wire and the cheapest Kimber Kable speaker wire, but I couldn't distinguish between the different Kimber Kable wires in blind testing.

Personally, I wasted a lot of money in my late 20s and early 30s looking for better equipment based on others' opinions (sometimes even letting those other opinions sway me away from what I liked).  Then, I found a reasonable amplifier and a pair of speakers that matched my musical tastes and have been concentrating on the music (that was 25 years ago).  DACs and preamps have been upgraded over time to take advantage of the improving technology (particularly DACs).

Hope you enjoy your journey and the music.