Kinda both, but there is no doubt that experience guided my investments and the info shared in forums like this has saved me thousands. Shouting out also To Paul at PS Audio for consistently answering a wide range of good questions.
I decided to build a couple systems about five years ago and my main rig has consistently improved since then based on good info gained over time. Building around the same Class A/B/A+B pro audio amp I upgraded main speakers, added a sub, did a complete cable swap, cleaned up the input with a WiFi streamer and adjusted input gain to the point where $5k hard cost sounds like $50k to me LOL