What do you say to your audiophile friends who say you just listen to your equipment more

Eventually you will run out of upgrades in your system which will be as good as you could ever desire and listening to what the equipment can do will fade away so you can just listen to the music. It has been over a year since this happened to me and I build my own amplifiers and preamplifiers so this should be harder for me than it is for someone who buys ready made components because instead of trying different brands I experimented with different circuit designs, different kinds of coupling transformers and different kinds of capacitors finding out the most elaborate often get outclassed by simpler cheaper parts.
After you reach that stable stage in your audiophile life it does not mean you will not still be interested in how other people do it and if you build your own from scratch, how manufacturers who do it differently than you do it.
So sit back and enjoy the different performances of your favorite composers.

@mahler123"Great sound enhances the appreciation of great music.  The gear is a means to an end, not an end in itself."

Well said!!!

Many years ago... I just listened to the music.  Then I discovered what potential was out there, and fell into the rabbit hole.

I'm climbing back out now... with exception of a few minor tweaks yet needed... and am back to listening mostly to the music instead of the equipment.  The plus of that is... I have regained my sanity.

My only major complaint left is... sometimes when I'm busy around the house, I like to go old school and listen to FM broadcasts. The SQ of most stations suck nowadays... with their highly compressed and over processed mp3s.  I truely miss the old fashioned analog broadcasting methods.  Seems anybody with a playlist and a microphone can be a radio DJ these days.

@jndean 

I reflect your sentiments... except for retirement. But I am looking forward to that.

A number of years back... a few of my friends and I used to get together for "card night" once a week.

We would rotate houses... and when it came to my turn to host... the others would start looking through my vinyl collection and making requests.

They would even wait patiently as I flipped or swapped a record... enjoying the system not just for the music... but for how good it sounded. No one ever tired of it.

Sometimes music is enjoyed more... and sounds better... when shared in good company. It removes the critiquing and analytical equipment listening one tends to do when alone.

Say nothing as my friends say nothing ever.