Do we suffer our music?


Here's some food for thought.
Is it the nature of this hobby to never be satisfied with the quality of music reproduction we can attain?
It seems to me, that the vast majority of us are satisfied only for short periods of time, and are constantly searching for audio nirvana.
So heres my question. What is the longest time you have been totally satisfied with your system? and what caused you to change it ( again?)
And is the point of this hobby to enjoy the music or suffer because of what we think we are missing?
shasonmusic
>>What is the longest time you have been totally satisfied with your system?
I had a HighEnd system for almost 14 years. I had bought it with the term "HighEnd" in mind which means to me: as good as it gets regarding my budget and sane senses. I only changed this system to my current gear due to a move into a bigger house. My living-/listening room has 64 squaremeters now with a high wooden ceiling and wooden floor - a dream to make music in (my Steinway Grand and my Hammond A 100 are in the same room). It's very clear that music-REPRODUCTION also gets all the benefits from this room. And again I consider my system high end and I cannot think of any reason to change any of the units except they were broken. Knowing the fact that music reproduction NEVER will come anywhere close to live music I am more than happy about what this system can do for me. Real music, however, is something completely different - hence I don't get the thread's title right.
I think it is possible that some people could be looking in one place for one set of rules and an expected outcome, and then without even realizing it really find what they were looking for elsewhere, completely by accident or fate, and never really know what that was even as they are somehow set at ease. Maybe a part of that was in the structures of music or the mechanisms of components and systems, until the whole of it was stumbled across elsewhere. Ultimately I do not worry about it. I will change and walk away. And I will probably relationalize it to death. The one sure thing in my relationship with music is that I do not feel any need to justify my likes or dislikes. I can be moved by the silliest shit, and left cold by pure genius. I really like that.
Aida,
I phrased the thread very carefully. I think you have touched on the operative thought in that the intrinsic knowledge that reproduced music can , but will never replace live performed music. But you will agree, that Steinway grand notwithstanding, you are no Horowitz...hence our compulsion to acquire a system that will reproduce the feelings we had when we heard him live.
I'm not implying that I am one of the dissatisfied audiophiles. My system core has not changed for a long time.
Newbee, although i am new to this, I am rapidly realizing that you have some valuable insights.