One time I was at a friend-of-a-friend's house, and the dude had a very nice "listening station" just for his music. I wasn't sure what to think at first about $5k+ CD players and $20k speakers, but he sat me down in his chair, asked me my favorite song, and played it for me. I heard stuff I'd never been able to pick up on before. It was an amazing experience that really opened me up to the virtues of high-end audio equipment.