Love the gear (or listening to it) as much or more than the music? Sacrilege!

Back when I was in graduate school, an Art History doctoral student and I used to go to the art museum together. We saw some amazing paintings. But she was just as interested in their frames or their lack thereof.

In audiophile circles, in my limited experience, the drum that beats is always the same — "Remember, this is about the *music*." Or, "Too many audiophiles forget that the real goal is the enjoyment of music." Etc. There's also a variant — "Too many audiophiles are just listening to the gear, not the music." The finger only wags in one direction.

So...while no one would ever assert that it's ok to *only* love the gear (or listening to the gear, mainly), I wonder how many would be willing to admit that they love the gear as much or even more than the music? Is that something you have ever heard someone admit — or have admitted yourself? Because sometimes the music is pretty ugly and the gear is pretty beautiful.