I just thought I'd raise another analogy:
Guitars.
Notice that quite a number of guitarists (when they have the means) like to collect different guitars. Why would they do that? After all, if they were only "into the music" then guitar music could be played on any single guitar.
Except, guitars sound different.
And guitarists enjoy those sonic differences, so they collect different guitars that produce different sounds.
Same for audio gear.
One could say "but the objective of hi end audio is different: the objective is to NOT sound different, but to get out of the way sonically so you hear the precise choices the artist made. Two different objectives."
Except there does not seem to be a perfect audio system of this sort. (At least yet). And so we are left with audio systems that seem to reproduce different aspects of sound with different sets of strengths. Given this variety, sampling different systems with different sonic attributes is enjoyable, just like collecting guitars that will sound different when playing the same song.
Guitars.
Notice that quite a number of guitarists (when they have the means) like to collect different guitars. Why would they do that? After all, if they were only "into the music" then guitar music could be played on any single guitar.
Except, guitars sound different.
And guitarists enjoy those sonic differences, so they collect different guitars that produce different sounds.
Same for audio gear.
One could say "but the objective of hi end audio is different: the objective is to NOT sound different, but to get out of the way sonically so you hear the precise choices the artist made. Two different objectives."
Except there does not seem to be a perfect audio system of this sort. (At least yet). And so we are left with audio systems that seem to reproduce different aspects of sound with different sets of strengths. Given this variety, sampling different systems with different sonic attributes is enjoyable, just like collecting guitars that will sound different when playing the same song.