Any other lone audiophiles here?

I am lucky to have a very close friend who is an ‘audio nut’ just like me. And our wives get along! My most fun thing to do is let my other friends hear what my system is capable of to try and get them interested in home audio for themselves. Some are impressed, most are not. As Elizabeth says - the music is it’s own reward. Access to Dylan, Coltrane, Miles Davis, etc. is what makes this ‘hobby’ so rewarding!! Happy Listening!! 

As others have said, there are two sides to this - the "quest for sound" (the experimental hobby) and the music. You are apparently not positioned well for the experimental quest - so it all comes down to "do you enjoy the music?". If so, do so and let the sleeping dog lie.  Maybe scratch it behind the ears.
I'll relate a story.  I design high end electronics on the side and have for 30 years; so i get the equipment bug and sometimes lived a life of critical listening and swapping as a business... required not optional. First, its hard work and sometimes gets in the way of enjoying the music. But also, you forget that its easy to be happy with something that's truly "good enough" - not harsh, not boring, not opaque - but maybe also not the ultimate.
Since i am refurbishing my house. i moved out to a much smaller apartment. I was loathe to move my huge, fragile speakers. So i didn't; I took my older pair (smaller, cheaper, but very very good).  I decided then, just for fun to only move a balanced system - - my "B" team - my 2nd DAC, 2nd best prototype preamp, old prototype amp, 3rd string Turntable/arm/cartridge, etc.
Guess what?  Its great fun and sounds like music.  I'm pulling out and enjoying lots of music i have not heard in years because, when i moved, i found those old LPs!
By the way this has always been my metric of how much better something is.  Not if it sounds better when i hear it, but whether i miss it when its taken away.  Was my "big" system better and will i relish it when i move back? Absolutely. Do i miss it and wish it were here? Almost never. Now off to listen to 7 different performances of Chopin's "heroic" on Amazon Prime (which folks, in high quality, through a bitperfect chain, with low jitter, sounds better than most give it credit for). and its free to prime members which is most of us.
I guess you are in the countryside?
G

I moved overseas to live in West Texas, and I don't know that there's even an audiophile near me. I had posted a page on Facebook, of which my wife and I are the only members (for now).
It's a far cry from working in a loudspeaker factory, I miss the interaction, and hearing different gear in different systems.

I’m pretty fortunate- I have 3 active audio buddies within 15 minutes of me. People come to my place and I’ve gone to my friends’ homes too to listen. For 3 out of the 4 of us, our systems have been unchanged in years. There’s also another local man- he’s quite elderly now- who has what in the late 80s or early 90s was a state of the art uber system (Krell amplification, Apogee speakers, Sota table, SME arm, VdH cartridge, Mac tuner). He no longer listens- 

Not a one. Fortunately, I have several acquaintances who are music whores, one of which is a borderline audiophile. He's also a musician who does some recording and put together a pretty nice audio system (mix of old/new components, Elac UniFi towers). He's great fun to chat with and we intend on having some listening sessions in the near future.