Have you become too jaded with this hobby???

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.)

Sometimes it seems 90% of audiophiles think they have the best sound attainable, and the other 90% are unhappy with their system. ;)

Thanks to the hobby aspect, I enjoy music all the more. The two go hand in hand. Hobby, the first part, is the quest for better equipment which results in better music appreciation, that second part we sometimes forget about.
Getting jaded is easy if your funds are low, the piece you bought doesn't do it for you, or you come to the realization that what you had was good enough. I've been there but thanks to sites like this, you can recoup some of your investment, make friends, get great advice, and move on, being all the more discerning. Hopefully.
I would never say I got jaded, just bummed or frustrated, but not enough to turn me off to this hobby. In fact, these bad experiences just whetted my appetite for something better.

Douglas, that's 180%.