yes! I do certainly agree on that no doubt.

BUT this is where those big money spendors go terribly wrong! my system on current retail value would cost close to 60 grand - I have not spent anywhere near that! It has taken me around 20 years to get to the system I currently have!
I have worked endless hours in approx 13 different jobs spanning the USA, UK, Canada Germany, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka & now Australia. hence I have worked hard and have earned it! I have mentioned before how exactly I upgrade my equipment with my respected dealers around the world. since I believe in customer relationships, being the marketing manager for a reputed training organization in Australia, it took me 5 years to get the Quads! when I buy something I carefully use it, and save as much as possible and then trade in with an upgrade purchase. if I was to buy it out right at current retail value, then my system in total would be well over 60 grand.

just because you have the big bucks and like to throw money around doesn't mean you are smart! I have come across many so called audiophiles who have outstanding speaker systems driven with some low-end yamaha or denon amplification for home theatre and they claim it sounds fantastic! to them yes perhaps, and they have spent nearly 30 grand just for the speakers and wires! but honestly a little highend tube system driving a pair of monitor grade sonus fabers or proacs beats it out of the park! in terms of musicality...

very few people in this ultra highend category ever get it right mate, believe me, and like you said since they have spent over 600 grand for a system, they cannot seem to enjoy the music when the next door neighbor is enjoying his two-in-one boom box and having parties & more chics than you can ever imagine!

all I can say is - "good on him!" well done mate and do enjoy your music.
I had a close associate (who sadly is no longer a friend due to getting my dam fingers burnt with his rich class ideals) - almost every 3-4 months or so he would purchase a new top of the line system. from magneplanars to infinity IRS, MBL, to Avant garde duo to the Trio classico, to VMPS and some other massive driver type. various amps, preamps, truntables, vacuum tube cd players, dacs, transports you name it, all top notch brands. he was a real show off and thought he had the best in the country! at the end of the day his music collection was just a handful of cd's & LP's nothing more than 20 or 30 albums, plus he never listened to one album at a stretch, not even one full track length; rather he would just listen to the opening track (couple minutes) and then switch discs to show off the bass or mids or highs or some slam here & there that the speakers can reproduce.

very sad indeed, because there was another fellow down the road who had a simple NAD system with some home made speakers and some very old proac speakers called "tablets". although this old chaps system's total cost was equivalent to 1.5m pair of audio note interconnects - the satisfaction he was getting out of his system was tremendous and this chap had more of a music collection than I have ever seen in my life! the walls were covered with either cd's, LP's or tapes... this guy had it all from Harry Bela Fonte to Gim Reeves! now this is what I call "enjoying your music"

the rich chap never ever really enjoyed his music, and this lesson I learnt the hard way. keep what you've got until you are mature enough to upgrade to the next level. stop dreaming and just be satisfied with what you have achieved. look back at those first years of your system, and see if you were enjoying your music more then compared to now with your mega grand system - if so something's terribly wrong somewhere...
plus who gives a rats about the next door's ultra highend... I am enjoying my music and that's all that matters - really!
cheers,
RJ