The hobby is different things to different people. Everyone is entitled to enjoy this or any other hobby the way they see fit. Some people like to criticize others' ideas of what the hobby constitutes to them. Some bash people for seemingly putting gear ahead of music, others criticize people seemingly hoarding music and/or gear. Then there's those that bash people who hear or don't hear differences in things like cables and other tweaks. I say live and let live. I hear differences in cables and don't need anyone telling me that in reality I don't hear them. But that's another discussion.
I don't have a huge music collection compared to a lot of others. The only physical media I have in sight is vinyl. Not a ton of it, but more than what my wife truly wants to see (although she's great about it).
I don't take pride in measuring terabytes.
I don't take pride in the number of boxes (pieces of equipment) in my stereo cabinet.
I've always believed in quality over quantity. I won't buy a rare lp for the sake of owning it. If its an album I really like, I'll track down a copy. I won't spend an arm and a leg for it, nor will I look for several pressings of it to find a pressing with the best possible sound quality. A great example of this stuff is Pink Floyd's catalog. Some people own a dozen different pressings of Dark Side of the Moon. More powe to them, but my 25th or 30th anniversary edition sounds just fine, and I don't need to look for a version that's fetching $200. It's one thing if you're collecting them as a financial investment, but quite another if all you're after is sonic improvement. I think the performance is far more important than the sound quality. But again, to each his own.
The hobby also means different things to people at different points in their lives. A few years ago I was all about getting the best possible sound out of my system. While I never put the system above the music (as in buying music that sounded great rather than stuff I actually liked), I did get hung up on components, cables, isolation, power conditioning, etc. Nothing wrong with that.
I enjoy my system in a completely different way now. I don't have a dedicated room (not by choice, but if I had the choice, I'd honestly turn it down); my system is in the living room. I enjoy listening to music and dancing around with my 2 year old daughter. She grabs my hands and says "Get up daddy! Dance!" She goes over and touches the speakers and says "Music right here!"
I put on her music, which is slowly taking over my Apple TV 1's internal hard drive space, and we dance, march, spin, and any other thing she feels like doing. Last night I was playing the Beastie Boys's Ill Communication while we were coloring. During one of the instrumental songs, she says to me "I yike this song" (she uses Y instead of L in some words; adds to her charm), got up and started spinning around. After that track, I put on Sabotage and had he chase me around the house. Sure, she had no idea why I had her chase me, but it was fun nonetheless (if you've never seen the video for Sabotage, YouTube it; it's the best music vide ever and will explain why I had her chase me).
My wife never got into the whole stereo thing. She never paid any attention to it, and deep down wasn't too thrilled when it made its way into the living room. She knew it was important to me, so she never gave me a single problem about it. Now that she sees how our daughter enjoys it, she gets into it too. It used to be I was the only one listening to music, now she asks for the stereo to be turned on too.
Good thing I have a Bryston, as I have no doubt it'll be fully operational when my daughter gets her first place. She'll take it with her. Now I just have to figure out what to do about the next one - we're expecting our second child (another girl) in the middle of March. I can't justify buying a second system so #2 (name TBD) can have it when she gets her first place.
Very long story short, the hobby changes as we change.
