"audiophiles listen to their equipment"

@brilliantdisplays ...and I agree with you, it can be a race to the top that potentially is irrelevant when one 'hits the wall' of greater than your 'on-board' organic ears.
Mine require my aids to have a more 'typical' presentation, but I'm still able to discern 'differences'...
My case in point:
If I'm away from my 'stuff' for a extended period of time...say, a month....I've a period of re-adjustment to it.  I chalk that response to being exposed to various 'n sundry that was certainly 'whatever' it may have been....vehicle radios, Muzak, you get the drill..  If there was the time and the situation, scan the area for a B&M that didn't require an appointment I'd unlikely be able to keep....

2 long excursions drove me to take a small D amp and my 'bookshelf' omni's along, the front end being my cell....Missed the sub that usually paired with, but beat zed.

Spouse thought it nutz initially but our employees were down with it....
"Good tunes?!  👍😎"  

Have Audio Will Travel
(LP's excluded....Picky,  not insane.)
My cell is my Pre, I shall not want. ;) 🤷‍♂️👏✨

@kennymacc & @aewarren ...Precisely.
It's a reproduction of an 'event, elsewhere' after all....
The means to do so is totally up to you, advised or not.
Tune up your mind and ears and go forth into the wilder mess...and mind the holes... ;)

@paqua123 *G* Same fate here, much the place/event memories of the time.
A lot of those places have or have not remained the same, or exist at all anymore.

As for those involved then, moved, dead or could be.  Family mostly keeps track of each other if only for the countdown to the bottom of the list...

Too many places I'd rather be on approach to.... *S*

I'd opt for a Lotus Exige S v. the luxcruiser...😏 ....but a 'warmed up Subu could do well enough if taking the route rarely used beckons hard enough...

...that memory thing... ;) J

Listening "criticality " makes me dissect everything and that's NOT fun....   Getting drawn into the music because it just sounds good is more appealing to me.  

My second system keeps me in check.  It sounds damn good , i listen to it 75% of the time.  It's compact and simple.  Keeps me off the upgrade merry go round. 

When I think I need "more" I go in the main room and listen to that system for a while.   

I'm at the point where I just want to consume tons of music and choice of system comes down to mood and how much free time I have.   

Your system is "good" when you are cautious about making any changes. Basically they both sound so good I'm going to leave things alone for a while 

Music is something that happens in your mind.  The stimulus need not be a sound.  A written score does not need to be played to be understood as music.  A sound designer/editor can look at a waveform and see the music.  A profoundly deaf person can feel music.

The majority of people on this planet do not need audiophile quality sound to enjoy reproduced music.  Even when exposed to audiophile quality sound reproduction the majority of people are not converted.  Musicians famously do not require audiophile sound.  Only audiophiles need audiophile quality sound, hence they are listening to their systems.  And there's nothing wrong with that.

“For the love of music”

We listen to music through our equipment — the two are inseparable. I can't fully appreciate music from just my laptop. I need to hear it played back through my system, seated at the main listening position in my IKEA Poäng armchair, eyes closed, while the massager kneads my back.

Isn't that the whole point of chasing ultimate equipment — to achieve the ultimate enjoyment of music listening? I don’t quite understand the cliché some people repeat, saying they can finally enjoy the music more with subpar equipment.