Do NOT Blow Your Entire Budget on Two Channel Audio

If I had to drop stereo and had a choice of Atmos or high quality mono, I'd pick mono.  

This new object stuff is too artificial from the demonstrations I have heard. Probably not the technology, just what has been introduced.  Now, if you go back to the 60's and the research AR did on how many discrete channels it takes to actually provide a realistic 3D soundstage ( 16 if I remember) and figure out how to record them, let me know. It would also require a spec listening room which would make it useless to me even then. Still, I'd love to hear it. 

My HT is a 5.1. Small room so not suitable for more advanced arrangement. I don't mind the rears, but it is only a few movies where the surrounds are not fakey.  Not as bad as 3D video, but not far off.  All my other systems are stereo, or at least two channel as a lot of my music is R-L, not stereo.  Beatles anyone?  Yea,  on my desk I need to play with cross-talk some. Nearfield, close boundaries. Horrible imaging.  I winder what a Schiit Syn would do with a center above my monitor?

I have not experienced BACCH filtering. I'm not aware of any available product or what requirements it puts on the playback system.  I listen in my living room, not a special built listening room and I am not sure I want a laser tracking my head.  

PS: Audiophiles do have a budget.  When we were young, we were poor so that set a limit. Now we are older,  if we want to stay married.  

PPS: I did hear a reproduction, stereo, that was almost believable. If you closed your eyes, it was close enough to real it might fool some.  Upright bass, 2-mic to a Revox, played back in the same room on B&W/Levenson etc.  Best I have ever heard, but it was an un-mastered direct half track tape.  Circa 1980, so how far have we really gotten?   

There are LOTS of  affordable products that perform right on the edge of the most expensive esoteric units.   By affordable, I mean what most working adults are willing to pay if the sound is worth the price.  That means a used Sony table radio for some.  A used Yamaha receiver and a pair of Elac or Warfdales for others. It may mean a lot more.  Careful used shopping can of course pay off. 

If I were to define the minimum of what I consider true high end sound excluding prestige or hearing damage level playback, I might suggest:

Audiolab 6000 integrated, Sonas Faber Luminna IIs, SMSL Do300 DAC, Monoprice sub. Some kind of streamer, Wiim or what ever that thing is.  Cables form Monoprice, Amazon etc.   I venture that is 99.9% of what is possible. That last .1% is a real bugger. Real, but hard. 

That is still several thousand dollars which is a lot of real money to most of us,  but it is actually high fidelity.   Is the IOTA or similar as smooth sounding as the Autiolab? Or spend a bit more for a Hegel?  You hit the diminishing returns real fast. Mojo or Aries DAC worth it?   How far short is a JDS Atom amp from the most exotic headphones amp?  Not much. Is a $9000 preamp any better sounding than $109?  I would not bet on it.  Prettier. Nicer feel. More inputs. Maybe your choice of masking distortion. But not more neutral. I do sort of miss the masking of my Nakamichi preamp with it's tone controls. Nostalgia maybe. 

Unfortunately prestige, looks, and ego drive the high end market. Usually you do get great sound. Some of it real, much of it placebo.  Both making you happy. Hopefully you get reliability. Want a lifetime amp? Buy a Mac or Bryston.  Billet aluminum cases don't sound any better. Braid over a power cord does not improve imaging. VU meters are eye candy only.  No amount of user end electronics can make the source better. They can only degrade it. Some degradation is considered to be "musical". Some is not. Some is a tradeoff we are willing to make not to get a different defect.  Personal preference. 

Yea, I would put a set of $50,000 speakers on a RadioShack receiver and the next best dollar spent would probably be better speakers, it there actually are any. 

I stream on my PC as I flat won't put up with UIs based on a phone, so that makes internal streamers and even boxes irrelevant to me.  Old guy who makes, get this novel use, PHONE CALLS from my phone.   Yes, we are a dying breed.