Have you become too jaded with this hobby???

I love music, and this hobby brings me closer to my love of music.

I go long stretches (years) where I am enjoying the music deeply on whatever equipment that I have. During these times I still stay interested in hearing new composers or new renditions of my favorites.
Then I will have a period of equipment analysis, perhaps make a purchase and then analyze the results. This whole evaluation period may last about two months, and is very absorbing/exciting but if it becomes longer it becomes fatiguing.
I enjoy listening to other people's systems, hearing the recordings they find most special and sensing their passion about good sound.
Have to agree with Mceljo, in that I have had the experience that listening to a system/room that is at a higher level than mine, at times has inspired me to aim higher. Or I just let the urge pass and in a few weeks I am back to full enjoyment with what I have.

Listen to music in the car much less now; about the only time now is when OPV (the NPR station here) has its membership drive (I'm a member,BTW).

I'm not the least bit jaded by the hobby itself. You meet some of the nicest, smartest, funniest people. You're connected to a world of appreciation for the arts, for design, for knowledge. If done well it invigorates, soothes, restores, the human spirit. It's a hobby, like many others, that connects you to something life-giving, life-affirming. I would be very sad to be without it.

Like most of you, I can have my jollies listening to anything good even on a table or car radio. You can all remember great moments with friends doing that. And like mrtennis, live music is of course a must, and still the overall complete package.
But, assemble a system that can sing, at any given price point, and you can have such pleasures in your own home that enthrall to no end. Sure, it's not live, but what if the "live" performer or performance sucks? Is it still better to listen to that, than to go home and blare out Renee Flemming or Ivan Morevac and be dazzled by artistry that only comes along now and then? That you can hear whenever you want, wearing whatever you want, and with not a lot of coughers and loudmouths sitting near you?

If you cannot be moved by a synergistic stereo system, even of meager means, then sell your system and start over.

So to answer your question, I'm not the least bit jaded by this hobby!

Am I jaded if I:

* Gag whenever I hear someone say "Bose is high qualiy"?
* Get annoyed listening to harsh sounding digital sources when I know what a warm analog source with tubes can produce?
* Get even MORE enjoyment from my favorite record or artist on a great sounding system?
* Get annoyed with a soundstage that is narrow, flat, and shallow?

In short, "Come, come, my good man, there are standards to be upheld..." (And I mean that in an unsnobby way...for the most part.)