I suffered from that same disease for 30 years. In 1978 I heard a high-end system reproducing a singer-songwriter with such surreal 3D realism it hooked me. I spent the next three decades trying to achieve the same realism. Speakers, amps, preamps, turntables, arms, cartridges, cables, stands, anti-vibration platforms, room treatments, audiophile recordings of dubious musical value, you name it, I tried it all, spent tens of thousands of dollars and I was never satisfied.
Then one day I realised I was so focused on the gear that I was no longer enjoying the music. I also realised that my musician friends didn't care either, they only cared about the music.
I still can't listen to bad sound but I just bought myself decent equipment which I've now owned for some 10 years and I just started enjoying the music again. It was liberating.
