@grauerbar good post!
Probably the desire to go back to these golden moments of the past gets transformed into some people‘s audiophile journey. Covering the inability to get back there with an ongoing quest to improve, which is naturally futile.
There was a New Yorker cartoon with a guy reaching a mountaintop. The guru sitting there says something like „What? No, I‘m just here for the view.“ I like that a lot. There is only now. And striving for complete bliss is as pointless as time travel to a former self. Both are possible to a certain degree only and we have to deal with it. And for me the best way of dealing with it is to accept that this is ok, that desire does not fulfill me and to keep away from distractions.
Sure I can‘t turn off nostalgia completely and get transported back to earlier times when I‘m listening to music from back then. But there‘s so much great (new!) music out there that mirrors my current mindset, which is just different. It‘s a pleasure to discover and find that sweet spot where music allows me to be in the now. And the gear is the tool to help with that.