Why do Audiophiles feel the need...

I think a lot of us have a tendency to overgeneralize. We have owned X number of tube amps or moving coil cartridges or planar speakers , etc. For most of us this will rarely exceed a number that can be counted using our fingers. From this limited sample we make broad generalizations.
I've been spending too much time and money on music reproduction since the late 60's ( and don't regret a min. or dollar spent) - part of what is so challenging today is that even if we limit ourselves strictly to the reproduction of music - there is a incredible variety of good to great sounding gear available.Further complicating things is the reality that within a system we are seeking synergy and I gotta tell you over the years I have repeatedly made one "improvement" in my systems that totally craped on the sound.Was that component "bad" sounding or just bad when used with the rest of my equipment ?
I will say that on this or any of the unrelated forums I frequent - if you ask for first hand experience vs. philosophical opinions - you get a whole lot fewer responses - and probably a whole lot more information.

I do find that while I take knocks with a grain of salt - I do pay attention to endorsements of particular products and /or services. When someone says I owned and used X for X or XX years without a problem and enjoyed it - that's IMHO important information.
The reason I'm a little less interested in the knocks is I was a service manager in this industry for many years - people are sometimes disappointed in equipment for reasons that have very little or nothing to do with that particular product.