People get into this hobby lusting after stuff they can't afford. For example, if you were 17 years old in the late 90s, you would have lusted after, I don't know, Wilson Speakers, some big class A amps, and some super fancy SACD player.
As you get older, the SOTA changes, and the new stuff is even more expensive, but you still want what you wanted when you were young, and hopefully the prices have come down somewhat, unless collectors have gotten into them.
To this day I'd like to own some big Dunlavy, Thiel or Acoustat speakers, but are they state of the art? Not really, nor are they a good value, but I'd still like to own them.
I might also add that a lot of the old equipment functions as status symbols far better than modern stuff. A hypex amp in a box will never be as impressive as a Krell or Pass Labs, even if it is more performant. Same thing with most active studio speakers.