The assumption or theory that paying attention to your gear can have a negative effect on how you feel about music seems ridiculous. If that's the case you need therapy. As a long time musician I can create music (the absolute sound?...hmmm) myself without my hifi rig (dozens of guitars, mandolin, ukulele, drums, bass...blah blah). The joy of this hobby is taking the reproduction of great recordings and having fun with them by making them sound as good as you think is necessary. My relatively modest system sounds astonishingly good and once in a while I improve it. I Recently added a Schiit Loki Max having no idea how much fun it would be (I sorta knew as I have a couple of Lokis)...I recommend this thing to anybody...but you MUST add "chicken head" knobs to it for even more fun.
Audiophilism is a hobby
This post grew out of another discussion on music vs. sound. According to a poll taken in that discussion, it is clear most A’goners claim they listen to their rigs primarily for the music. Although I don’t doubt the truth of that, I maintain that much of the listening is as a hobby, with music being a very important component. I’m not saying we can’t be profoundly moved by the music but rather that a lot of our enjoyment comes from the sheer sound emitted from our speakers. Great music is of course a vital part of the experience, but with all the manipulations we do with our systems, we are fascinated by the idea of sound in itself as a hobby.