For most, it's a hobby. There will be a range of experiences as to how people approach it, or of course even any individual will change their relationship to the hobby during different periods.
But generally speaking, we are hobbyists. If we weren't, we'd all have just bought a system (like most non-audiophiles) and left it at that years ago.
But we don't do that. We remain fascinated with the technology. This can mean getting a kick out of trying all sorts of different gear over time - it's a journey not a destiny thing - or it can mean continually parsing over new gear, data about the new gear, fascination with the technology, hence hanging out on forums like this.
In other words, just buying a sound system and forgetting about the technology isn't for the most part what hobbyists do. Maintaining an interest in all sorts of audio gear is a feature, not a bug of the audio hobbyist.