You're mostly right in your observations. I'm also an old timer at this hobby, and while there have always been those who were in the hobby just to play with the gear, these does seem to be a higher population of them now. Even some of the 'audiophile' recordings that have come out over the past few years, while well recorded, have got to have the record label executives snickering about the fact that people are actually buying the recordings and remarking about how much they like them.
I, like you, am interested in listening to music, not listening to the hi-fi equipment to try and determine how 'real' it sounds. I have also listened to a great deal of live music and have played a great deal as well and have never heard any hi-fi equipment that can reproduce the emotion of a live performance, and I don't expect that anyone has actually tried to build anything that does.
The goal for me is to own equipment that produces a sound that I find pleasing and to spend my time enjoying the music.
