Understanding the addiction would give us no joy, unlike not understanding it and continuing as we do. As for superficially controlling it to a degree, that could be helpful. One way to try and do it can be to buy the most expensive best equipment possible in the hope that the urge to upgrade will not be too demanding for a while. I’ve been saying it all along - the biggest mistake some people make is not to spend enough. Recently when I wanted to upgrade my RCA cables I planned to spend about $600 for a pair, then I thought - no way- and spent over $1k. This made me happy because in the next five or more years I won’t have to upgrade them, I might still have the wish to but it won’t be strong, what I have now is already very very good. They will also work very well even if I upgrade the components they connect. And those $600 cables, as good as I suspect they are, would’ve been upgraded much sooner, probably to what I have now. However, with cables it is easier, with active components we are usually talking thousands of dollars difference not hundreds.
