Simple answer to your 1st question - I often change components out of boredom - gives me something to experiment with for a few days and sometimes I find something that significantly changes my system (better or worse). Being cheap, I spend far more time on fine tuning set up/room acoustic's and rolling tubes.
Not so simple answer to your second question - If you truly love music, and listening to music is your real goal, you'll enjoy music over a car radio, a boom box, your home audio system or the seat furthest from the stage. For some of us who do, fiddling with audio components and set up is a totally different hobby. Both are very good ways to pass the time and they co-exist quite well for most folks.
Personally, I spend far more time on music, both in listening, studying, and collecting. This is far more rewarding (for me). I spend about 95% of my time allotted to audio/music to music, 4% sharing experiences and helping out on line, and about 1% fiddling with components/set up.
IMHO folks who are suffering from "audio neurosa" are still on the steep part of the learning curve of the audio hobby, and have not yet realized what it is that they want and what is really obtainable (or not!), let alone how to get it.They are still relying on superficial recommendations of well meaning folks and eager (for a commission) salemen, proceeding without sufficient independent critical analysis and then suffering disappointment when the expected miracles do not occur. But they learn, or burn out.
Not so simple answer to your second question - If you truly love music, and listening to music is your real goal, you'll enjoy music over a car radio, a boom box, your home audio system or the seat furthest from the stage. For some of us who do, fiddling with audio components and set up is a totally different hobby. Both are very good ways to pass the time and they co-exist quite well for most folks.
Personally, I spend far more time on music, both in listening, studying, and collecting. This is far more rewarding (for me). I spend about 95% of my time allotted to audio/music to music, 4% sharing experiences and helping out on line, and about 1% fiddling with components/set up.
IMHO folks who are suffering from "audio neurosa" are still on the steep part of the learning curve of the audio hobby, and have not yet realized what it is that they want and what is really obtainable (or not!), let alone how to get it.They are still relying on superficial recommendations of well meaning folks and eager (for a commission) salemen, proceeding without sufficient independent critical analysis and then suffering disappointment when the expected miracles do not occur. But they learn, or burn out.