The OP talks about playing at home in the living room.
Fair point, it does depend on one's expectations. There are a lot of people who are perfectly happy listening to music on laptop speakers and earbuds, and since that is all they usually hear, it seems just fine to them as there is nothing really there for comparison.
On the other hand, once you do experience something that is of higher quality, and the difference is so substantial that you can actually hear or feel that difference (and don't just imagine it, which I believe happens with sound past a certain point, where then the knowledge of the price tag affects the perception), it's hard to go back or settle for something less.
For example, I used to be mostly satisfied with a small set of twenty years old speakers that weren't stellar or expensive even when new, and I could also make do with my old laptop's sound system, which was better than what laptops usually come with it. And then I bought studio speakers, and the difference was so contrasting and obvious that I now even experience my $200 headphones (not that expensive as far as headphones go, but still not entry level) as really underwhelming, when before I thought they were great.
It's just all relative, as you wrote, and depends on the purpose and intent. It's probably a bit (or a lot) like with ukuleles. When you start hearing the difference between different qualities of ukuleles (which I don't think everyone does, especially not when starting out and player skill matters much more than the instrument), and you come to appreciate the better sound that expensive ukuleles often (not always) have, it's harder to be satisfied with what was once just fine. (But at the risk of sounding heretical, I believe that in a lot of cases the sound quality gain from improved skill is more substantial than the gain the same player gets from an improved instrument, assuming one isn't Corey and the "lesser" instrument isn't an extreme cheapo or defective.)
Anyway, yes, I agree with you, and I also agree with Baz -- both valid views, just depends on what you want to achieve and what you're used to.
There's also the whole diminishing returns thing. Going from my old speakers to the studio speakers was a big step. Buying twice as expensive studio speakers would give me a relatively tiny improvement, and I doubt I could hear it. The first expense was sensible, the second one wouldn't be, for me.