Is it a gender disorder?

Rule no. 1. If your wife can’t hear it from the kitchen chances are good it’s a placebo. 

Yes, audiophiles are largely a male only tribe. What this means is not clear.

When you consider all the time, money and energy we put into our hobby, endlessly hunting for something we can't quite define and often without any satisfactory conclusion, comparisons with a certain naval captain chasing some semi mythical white whale arise naturally.

Who knows, maybe all those centuries and centuries of hunting and exploring have left us with the equivalent of an audiophile gene?

Is this addiction a good or a bad thing? Well, there's probably lots of better and worse things to do in life. Such as stamp collecting or needless burning and looting.

On the upside there is always the thrill of finding new gear to explore and for many of us hope springs eternal.

The facts would seem to indicate that is the case.

Whether male or female sometimes they hear a difference but simply don't care.One spouse may agonize over choosing the perfect shade of cream drapes to blend with the sofa and the other sees differences but just doesn't care.And so on...

Seriously though.
She actually does really appreciate the half way decent HT rig I put together for her. When I was part way through upgrading it and she had to listen to TV speakers she was most displeased.
And she does hear differences in my rig but only major ones like new speakers.
Cables, fuses, heck no.... Lol