There does not have to be one reason for what we do.
I have always been a shopoholic, a bit of a gadget freak, and a music lover. Audio combines them all. The thing is, though, that once the music starts, assuming that this is a listening session (which is what we buy the stuff for) and not a testing or set-up session, then nothing else matters.
But does this mean that it is satisfying to listen to music, just because it is music, regardless of the quality of sound? Absolutely not. Curiously, I have found that one of the ironies of getting a little deafer, year by year, is that painful sound gets more painful. One example of the fallout is that I am almost boycotting two of Chennai's greatest sabhas, this season, because the sound systems that they use hurt. The couple of exceptions that I made only proved the point.