My gift from my wife was neither audio equipment nor music. She is always kind enough to listen to new cables or a reclocker or whatever, if I ask for her opinion but really has no interest in the hobby. Me? My fantasy career was to become a musician- a drummer. But as things happened, I instead chose a career in biomedical research and only at the ripe old age of 55 did I realize that I could afford to buy myself a drum set. All I can say is that it's a lot harder than it looks and I've probably sacrificed some hearing pretending to play them for the last 8 years. Now as we look to downsize, it's pretty clear that the drum set will have to go- it's big and it's loud. So my wonderful wife surprised me and bought me an electronic drum kit and I love it! She loves it too since all she hears is tap-tap-tap but I hear real drums in my headphones. And if you think this was really a gift to herself, just know that she never stopped me from buying any audio equipment ever. I'm so lucky and grateful.