Do you listen to equipment or music.

@jhills, "My point is that, we as audiophiles, may get a little OCD and let a continual need for upgrades, tweaks and changes, take the place of periodically just sitting back, for a bit, to enjoy the music.."

I bet every one of us here (excepting perhaps the most cynical of dealers), is familiar with that feeling.

With me, the audio OCD was at its worst some 15 years ago. After spending almost a months wages on a cartridge that was barely an improvement upon it's predecessor (which cost less than a fifth of it's price, and ultimately proved superior), I began the long slow road to recovery. 

Of course, I'll never be cured, and don't want to be, but I do try to keep a perspective on all things audio. Friends and family help too. If that fails, I keep in mind the certainty that music is there to be enjoyed, not analyzed.

The Beatles 'Ticket to Ride' will still sound good on any system,
https://youtu.be/UHsN9d4FTVI

as will Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto 2  
https://youtu.be/rEGOihjqO9w

or Glenn Gould playing Bach's famous Aria from the Goldberg Variations.

https://youtu.be/Gv94m_S3QDo

@david_ten 

mixing my sobriety metaphor with your pregnancy metaphor hopefully results in many full terms of musical enjoyment and not postpartum depression 

In all seriousness, couldn’t be more happy to have nine + months of not thinking about any tweaks or upgrades (after almost a full year of trying way too much gear). Nice to know you can hit an endgame plateau (I acknowledge there may be others in the future) where the sound is so good that music and musical discovery is all one is interested in and is what makes you look forward to getting home.

that said, every once in a while I discover a piece of music that shows of the quality of my system in a new way and I say “sh*t my system sounds good!”.... then I go back listening to the music.

There’s hope.

Music first. It's all about the music for me. It's by biggest love and passion. I enjoy my system a lot and tweak it endlessly but the bottom line is the music. At times I disconnect from the critical listening and I just play music to enjoy it. 

Like most of you, I listen to equipment when something changes and music the rest of the time EXCEPT...

I NEED to be able to hear what the singer is saying. I just can't forget everything and drift into that wonderful state of floating with the music if I can't make out the words. I,m always disappointed when I buy an album and the lyrics (and musicians by track) aren't included. Luckily, I can almost always find them on line.

As a sideline...I'm involved in live music as a musician and live sound engineer. Talk to the sales people in either of the High End shops I live near and not only do they not do little "house concerts" at their shops (ask about that fact and note the bewildered response), they're generally unaware of live shows nearby, and often have very narrow musical tastes as if actual live music doesn't matter much.