I don't know that there was one product that did it. I've always liked music, but mostly it used to be for (long ago, background at parties or getting high) or later in life when I was doing other tasks. When I got into Dolby Prologic, someone turned me onto the idea of getting a subwoofer and speakers to accompany a sub; after that someone came over to watch The Wall live at Berlin and that person started talking to me about better end audio and because of him I bought a Carver vacuum tube CDP; a while later I bought Cary's entry level tube amp and a separate HT digital pre and some better cables and interconnects, and it was at that point that I truly got interested in what upgrades would do to my dedicated listening experience.
Then it was, "Let the arms race begin."