Audiophile
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The hobby of audiophilia offers a rich playground for potential upgraders and tweakers.
Audiophile circles use the noun "upgrade" to describe the replacement of a system component or components, for example a low quality or low powered electronic amplifier, with a better quality or more powerful amplifier from the same or different manufacturer's product range ostensibly to improve on the quality of reproduced music from a hi-fi system.
However, the description generally excludes the modification to the sound using different types of interconnect cables, or the replacement of electronic components within the system components by the owners in order to customise the sound, as this would constitute DIY or tweaking.
The word "upgrade" has spawned the noun upgraditis, used to describe a person's obsession, compulsion, or addiction (akin to a disease) to perpetually changing his/her hi-fi system components in order to obtain ever greater enjoyment and fulfillment through enhancements to sound quality. Although the original aim is to improve the sound quality, persons with extreme manifestations of this disorder may completely lose sight of the objective and make frequently and highly expensive component changes for their own sake.
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