the process is more challenging than the result

Materialistic hobby=semi-pleasant waste of time
Music=profound sensory investigation
Profound sensory investigation with high end equipment=ecstatic wonderment and sublime communion with our inherent creativity

on the planet i come from. the last thing i need is to spend all my free time getting 'challenged' by electronic devices. my biggest challange stereowise, is playing air guitar though the entire dr feelgood-stupidity album without hurting my elbow.

and your point is???

;*)

as has been said, one can get most of the benefits of listening to music on a table radio, that one gets from listening to music played through a well set-up stereo system.

Benefits….hum. Weather you mean a true benefit (as in lowered blood pleasure, relief from stress, contentment, etc.), or emotional sensation (gratification, enjoyment, exhilaration, etc.), this is a flawed premise either way. I listen to talk radio in the car, where I spend a great deal of time, because I “benefit” from that format so much more than from listening to music via the radio. I am a music lover, which lead me to become an audiophile. When the music is involving it memorizes me, when it is played through even a decent car stereo, it often becomes an Annoyance. The whole point of perfecting the soundstage, timbre, image, clarity, dynamics and the nuances is to “benefit” the listener. The gear is the obsessive component of this neurosis; the end result, or the music, is the passion (or, as you have identified it, the “benefit”). Albeit, the result can be challenging.

Listening to music is much preferred for me when weighed against the quest for great sound in my system. I find the 'quest' to be quite frustrating at times and would rather the gear all go away and that I was left with just pure musical pleasure. If something is off or wrong in a change that I've made that really bugs me and then it does indeed become difficult to listen and enjoy. Fortunately that seems to happen with less frequency the longer I am in this hobby, but it certainly still happens. I do get pleasure from making the 'right' choices, but the greater pleasure by far is in reaping the benefits of those choices...enjoying the music. I don't attach the same expectations to listening to music outside of my main rig (on a table radio, in the car, iPod, etc.), but I much prefer the pleasures my main rig provides. That said, in the pursuit of a better sound I have met some really amazing people and formed some long-standing friendships, and I'd rank that as one of life's greatest rewards.