I lately wonder why I’m an Audiophile.

That sounds good.

On average my upgrade cycles are about seven years apart. In between I enjoy the music. Often being struck and / or getting chills from how incredible great the sound / music is on a daily or at least weakly basis. I can’t tell you how many times after a listening session going up to talk to my partner and exclaiming how incredible my system sounds... This has been going on for four years now, since my last upgrade..  

If you a not finding your system incredibly engaging... so it is  difficult to turn off and go do something else. You may still have work to do. It’s easy to put a system together that sounds very good.... it is another thing to put together one that is deeply emotionally engaging. A highly detailed, but dry sounding system will sound great for a while, then you'll loose interest. An emotional engaging one will be difficult to tear yourself away from after several hours of listening. 

In my experience if the basic piece of gear are well chosen for synergy, if you do not enjoy music enough to forget sound it is because you lack  an element or many elements  or miss a factor or many one...

It could be mechanical, electrical or acoustical...

Price has nothing to do with pure musical and  good sound experience...

 Any system at any price must be optimized...

And no factor can replace the other factors at play... At any price...

For example controlling vibrations or the room will not replace equalization, or a too higher noise floor... This is true for my 1000 bucks system as well as for a 100,000 bucks system...

I enjoy music without being bothered by sound defects...I control them if they manifest ...I dont suffer upgraditis at all like in this era 12 years ago  before i learned what to do...

i then go from one joy to the next with the same system/room from one optimization to the next if there is one which seems possible or necessary  at peanuts costs...

@ghdprentice 

You are so right. An engaging system is quite desirable to listen to music. Luckily my CJ  preamp provides the warmth that blends with highly revealing other components to produce a very pleasurable result.  Even so, that is not the ultimate goal.of my listening, which is to be fully engaged in the music itself.
 

I got to a point several years ago where two very good, but different, systems have been fully optimized to reach their potential. I spent the last twenty or so years curating a very large record collection, which I found rewarding in several respects: first, I opened my ears to music that would not have crossed my path when I was stuck in listening to audiophile spectaculars; second, I learned a lot about label histories, and the stories behind a lot of records that were not on everyone's radar. And in the process, I learned more about music--not just from a technical or musicological perspective, but what scratches my itch- I can go from free jazz to "proto"-metal to disco to funk and popular music and find threads in all of it that appeal. Yes, there is considerable variation in sonics, but my mainstay is the "common" LP, not some special "audiophile" release. It's been a great learning experience and an adventure-- a process of discovery that no matter how many hours I devote to it, fills me with a sense of wonder -- the musicians, producers, sidemen (and women), the recordists, mixers, mastering engineers and all the people that contribute to these recordings give me a sort of faith in humanity that is restorative and feeds my soul. May you be blessed with the same sense of joy and wonderment at whatever music moves you.

Expense for added fidelity but small gains for much more monies after you  spend over $60 k on up  from my experiences  if  streaming for an extras few grand 

you can even improve so so recordings.