Do you think audiophiles are the most gullible hobbyists

I was at Costco the other day. There was a man's watch in the jewelry section that was $14,999. It wasn't even a particularly good looking watch either.  That would buy you 3 pair of Magneplanar 3.7i's

Wow! I didn't know Costco was so upscale. The one by me is popular for their 5.00 chickens and .35 cent croissants.

If you are thinking about being gullible regarding fuses, cables, cords, etc, no.  I haven't felt as if I have been deceived on any of these items--they have all worked to improve the sound. I am skeptical of the magic dots and stickers, though.  For music purchases, it's not that we're so gullible as it is willing to take chances on a better issue, etc.  Comparing hobbyists to just being consumers, people are much more gullible in buying weight loss products, beauty products for skin, hair growth products, get-rich seminars, healing pendants, televangelists, etc.  Audio gullibility pales next to these attractions.  

I don't know about audiophiles, but car wax enthusiasts are certainly up there.  There are numerous waxes selling for thousands of dollars for one jar and the better "enthusiast" waxes go for a couple hundred for a jar.  I don't want to say these people are gullible, but it may make you feel better about spending a few thousand on a set of ICs, which at least will last for quite a few years. 

Ions ago I had some really professional sales training, where they differentiated "need" from "sense of need".  To highlight the difference they gave an example of one being a salesman selling house painting services, in a neighborhood where one house was very neatly kept, had a paint job that was a few years old, starting to fade and get dirty, while the house next to it had badly peeling paint, noting that the latter had a real "need" for a new paint job, but the former had a much more powerful motivation or "sense of need", and would be the customer you would be best to concentrate your time and effort on closing the sale.

Our hobby is definitely one of those "sense of need" scenarios.

We've all got to admit that it's really a lot of fun to swap out equipment and accessories and see how that changes (hopefully improves) our musical experience.

Hey, if some of the crazy things that audiophile purchase make you happy, that's all that counts!