What's the most overrated or overpriced piece of equipment you own, have owned or come by?

I agree with you about the "passion" thing.  I think of an expensive cable like a $5 cup of coffee: a momentary gratification, an impulse for novelty, an affordable expenditure relative to electronics, and a usually wasted surplus that would be more wisely banked for a more meaningful upgrade. How much do we spend at Starbucks in a year? It adds up.

I’ve been selling piece parts to high end audio OEMs for awhile. I rarely encounter an electronics or speaker designer who cares much about expensive cables. What does this say? Possibly that expensive cable-swapping is mostly a pastime of the non-technical consumer who disguises an urge to tinker as pseudo-science. Of course people are free to spend money to express themselves anyway they like.

The $4K represents everything in the loom.  Materials for the speaker cables cost $750.

BTW, I'm not suggesting that cables are unimportant-- rather that this endeavor is accessible to the average DIYer with almost no knowledge of electronics.  Once understood you could hire a high school student or my sister-in-law to make cables... 

Bondmanp, Cables are an area where a little research and basic DIY skill, together with the use of first-rate materials and a modest investment of time, produces VG to excellent results at reasonable prices. My current loom is

PCs: shielded 8awg .999 silver or Furutech Alpha 3 bulk cable with Furutech ends.

Speaker cables: shielded and grounded, teflon and silk insulated .999 stacked silver foils with 1.5 lbs. of silver therein.

ICs: shielded, grounded Parts ConneXion Connex/DH Labs BL-Ag balanced silver bulk IC cable with teflon dielectric and Neutric ends. 100+ ft. @ $16/stereo ft.

At the current commodity price for fine silver, the entire investment is perhaps $4K. Over the years I’ve wasted perhaps 5 times that in commercial cables that depreciated, and demoed some in the $10K range that don’t compare to the better DIY.

I try to believe that all purchasing decisions in audio should be considered at the margin of the greatest improvement for the least investment. There has always been something better to buy than expensive cables.