It’s a hobby. Like many other hobbies, it only stops when one is satisfied or no longer has interest in spending any more money due to lack of curiosity. If one is happy from a plug and play and Fire and forget perspective, and does not wish to experiment or test other combinations of equipment, then that individual is apt to not to explore any more expenditures any more. Good to go. For others, that is a different story.
If that individual is like me, and I will apply my car mod analogy here and just call it mod fever, then spending money on something that may or may not give a performance improvement is perhaps within ones DNA. I mean why take a perfectly good car and add a blower, or twin turbo, headers, adding carbon fiber, cold air intake, or tune, just to gain some more performance. You gain street creds having a faster car or fast looking car. When I added a full Katech racing system to my Corvette Z06, I knew I had passed the line of civility and started racing regularly at the racetrack. So in that instance, I needed better performance to compete against other exotic sports cars at the track. Does one gain better system performance when doing system mods? It’s seems speculative by some, validated by others, real use test cases.
Again, it is a hobby, we should not question why anyone would want to spend money on things that another wants to experiment, use, or test on their system. Yes, some prices are jaw dropping, but, for the folks who have the resources to purchase such stuff, why question that. My friends drive Exotic sports cars, and my GT350 is part of our car club, but, these are friends, and not people who value you for your worth....so, when applied to our audio hobby, guess what, who’s your friend, someone to call you out for spending money in XYZ, or someone who is willing to understand the stance or position you have taken to gain performance? Friends may laugh at you when you tell them how much you spend on this hobby, but, these are still your friends.
When I added turntable mods, more motors, 20volt dc quartz controlled motor controller, and 80MM platter, I was incrementally increasing performance of my turntable, despite it already being able to spin records in its previous state. These performance mods add some level of performance or system improvement. The only way for one to know if something will work for their particular needs, is to experiment. Hobbyists tend to find ways to spend money on things within their discretionary income levels to experiment with or add an upgrade due to reports from others on forums such as this. I browse sorts car forums and the same type of people surf those forums as well. Some leave their cars as is, others are prone to mod something.
As hobbyists, the spending stops when one decides that they are okay with what they have and no longer have a curiosity to explore other system combinations, or discretionary income tapers off. It seems to me that mod fever is something that traverses many hobbies. In my other hobby, a GT3 may be part of my stable next year. Did I suddenly disparage my fellow GT350 Voodoo engine brethren? Not! At least not with my friends. We love the sound of revving engines and shifting gears as we go to Cars and Coffee, or for cruises on the weekend to explore wineries or take day trips. Both of these hobbies consume a lot of time. When not driving, I listen to music on my modded audio system.
