I think that all humanity strives for something better from tomorrow than today. Without that we wither. Some of us apply that to cars, some hifi, some other things, although I can’t imagine what 
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Sure - but sometimes from a user perspective its about appreciation of a recording, a painting, a photograph, a film, a book, and enjoying it for what it is. I guess with audio if you feel your replay system is filtering between your recording and you - you may well be looking to strive to improve it.
From a point of view of product innovation, then yes typically nothing stands still - and even the audio amplifier design circuitry is constantly evolving - despite what some people seem to think on this forum… there are many design choices and optimisation choices to navigate differing paths through the compromises.
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There is an old thread of mine here called Tinnitus Anyone else? Which was very well responded to and had loads of useful info for sufferers.
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For anyone who has been fiddling for 49 years it has to be the hifi that’s a hobby, rather than a means simply of enjoying music. I’m sure a huge proportion of tweaks don’t really improve the emotional engagement with music. They simply make us think they do for a few days, then we get used to it and look for the next thing. And of that proportion a good number don’t make things better, we are just lured into thinking they do. There is a massive industry selling stuff nobody really needs, fancy wires, cable lifters, bouncing feet, wooden cones, magic rocks. And computer audio has unleashed a huge torrent of unnecessary stuff - a true tweaker’s paradise.
But if it makes people happy it’s totally harmless, no different to buying new golf clubs, a fancy trolley or funny knitted hats to put on the end of them.
Mrs HH says that when I get bored I start swapping bits of hifi. There is probably a lot of truth in that, and I suspect that it’s true for many others.
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Over the years I have ripped apart and sold systems I’ve aspired too, personally I put this down to boredom, currently I’m content but this doesn’t stop me reading about my next unattainable component.
I’m not convinced. A good enough system should be able to make everything sound as it was recorded (though of corse that is not always perfect!). In this regard a lot does depend on the speakers…
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Mainly speakers yes i think… for instance Klipsch Cornwall speakers are great for rock music with a lot of mid range emphasis, but perhaps less optimal for some other styles. They are also highly sensitive at 102dB, so you might want to match them with a different power amp than for instance a 85dB speaker that excels at other things…
For me he is the Ambisonics guy but I can guess he did a lot of interesting research, as a maths student my first C-programming was implementing some simpler parts of ambisonics.
It must be the journey -what would the destination be? Re-creating live music acoustically in your living room with the full dynamic range you would be sitting to close for the good of your hearing apart from having the neighbors calling the police.
So what we can go after is getting close to the experience and emotion of real live music rather than re-creating the actual sound. For me this was at the heart of the flat earth.
Thanks Simon-in-Suffolk. I think I am already there. You have hit the nail on the head with the speaker/room compatibility. I have Titan 808s in a room not that large and didn’t audition them sufficiently in the room. I have always had a nagging doubt they are too big. It’s not easy to audition alternatives as they are so darned heavy. So, ironically, this is not upgraditis because it’s not looking for something inherently ‘better’ but something more compatible. S-I-S always has something valuable to say
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A journey for me, like anything else.
My defining moment was in 1974 or 1975 when I heard, at that time, a world class HiFi system (Beveridge Electrostatic 2SW, a believe a Spatial Cohorence pre-amp and a LP12) playing Dark Side of the Moon.
I have been through most of the HiFi stuff since then including horns and valves. In 1996 or so I came across Naim and rapidly went active with a 6-pack and Briks.
Then in 2002-2006 I invested in a 500-level system (555/552/500/NBLs) that I still use today and is quite happy with (yes serviced, but non-DR).
My thing these days is to play around with (vintage) speakers and I have currently 7 pairs, including Snell A3 and a recently acquired pair of lovely DBLs from 1991 (still in refurbishing mode).
So, HiFi is a hobby and a journey but ultimately, for now at least, a destination (and not really a case of upgraditis I hope).
I think it’s partly human nature and probably in the dna of many on this forum to keep searching. It’s what drives mankind forward and no doubt why naim itself is what it is - hence NAC 102, 82, 52, 252, 552 etc.
Question if I may. Does that sound like a reasonable argument? I’m already rehearsing the pitch to ‘her indoors’ for the next upgrade……I’m going with noble/scientific/self improvement 
There are a number of arguments. Some are age related. [1] you are only here once. That works best when you are getting on a bit, especially if you don’t have dependants. [2] humour him, there are worse things for a husband/partner to go for in a mid-life crisis [cars, motorbikes, parachute jumping etc]. Again, that is age related. Unlike my wife sneaking a dress in hoping I don’t spot it, it’s pretty difficult to hide a NAP 500 or a pair of large loudspeakers. Happily, [1] and [2] have worked for me!
I know a few people, albeit not many, to whom this does not seem to apply, apparently perfectly content with their lot - and interestingly their lot is considerably more limited than mine, but they seem never to want or wish for anything different.
It’s only about the music, I wouldn’t mind if my system was a £25 Alba………………… …………………………… 
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For me the late Derek Jenkins used the phrase “there’s always more”.
Interesting. I have a friend of many years, known since we were both 18. He and his wife seem content and are happy to pay a mortgage, drive an average family saloon and want little other than a beer on a Friday night and to watch the TV or go out for a special meal every now and again. I visited one weekend and discovered they had a collection of ‘collectables’ based around some wizard game. They left me the keys and asked me to lock up on the Sunday because they were rising at some silly am , to go off to a convention where there were rumoured, only rumoured mind you, to be a very collectable rare item in the set.
It takes us all in different ways.
Be over in the morning to swap over……
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A journey for me, although I’m very content sat here by my little oasis enjoying the views and fruits - with really not much making me wish I should be somewhere else.