i had known a dude whose thrill was collecting books not even to read selected one , only rare books, the item price was the ultimate criteria he never really read them from beginning to end ...
it was as you said :
Thrill of the chase.
I was interested by books all my life. Never for their price, rarity,or for a collection of them...
I read them that was my thrill ... Any subjects...
It resemble audiophilia nervosa when peoploe call you "poor and ignorant" because you learned how to rightfully install a system but this system is low price compared to most and you did not tried 40 amplifiers, 25 dac. 35 turnatables 50 speakers brand ... 😁
I learned basic acoustics that was my fun and my goal was listening music in ectasy ...
For me people who had not learned that it is listening experiments with the electrical,mechanical and acoustical working dimensions that give us S.Q. experience when synergy is there as the starting experimental point , people that think that to be experienced we must upgrade to our 5oth speakers the more costly the better who are ignorant or simply reviewers of gear ...
Most competent reviewers know what i spoke about and some even say it clearly as Huff who speak about gear to sell it, it is OK , but constantly repeat we can be happy learning what to do with a relatively low cost system .