Hi-end audio is a big zero

@deadhead1000 

+1000!!

I am the same I have my favorites but will also take music any way I can get it.

Impossible? Not in 2022. There are enough builders that allow cheap or free returns to make good choices. If you want the best of all grow into a reviewer. You probably have to do more work than just visiting but that's not working for you anyway.

HiFi audio is a hobby with difficult expensive choices to make. Also expensive mistakes and buyers remorse. HiFi is all about listening and experiencing a music piece with its all details. You will hear same piece from different system with different details pleasing your ears. The difference is all about listening music with all those details as musician intended and recording revealed. When you listen same song on an ordinary speaker feels like looking at Mona Lisa behind a dirty glass. More expensive the system not necessarily is a better experience.  As prices goes up definitely returns are very diminishing. So everyone settles with a system that please them, some with deep pocket goes through a journey of constant changes and updating of these systems. 
Buying process can be very very frustrating due to complexity of putting an entire system in one store. Sales people, a lot of time reluctant and lazy to create ideal listening conditions during buying process. It is nearly impossible to experience to try and audition different systems at one HiFi store. That is why attending few HiFi conventions like Axpona can be excellent opportunity to audition all these gears at one place by focusing mainly on gear within budget. It really feels like a candy shop for HiFi enthusiast. Also you meet many very knowledgeable people from industry to improve understanding of different gear. I built my system after a such experience. I had many other preferences before, and ended up with completely different systems which I never imagined. Today I am very happy with choices I made, I think I created amazingly good sounding system with in my budget. Today when I go to these conventions, I don’t feel like missing much from other more expensive systems. So my glass is clear enough to experience the art in details.

A new hifi store recently started up in my nearest city.  I ventured to have a look, they had advertised special opening deals. I noticed an amplifier I didn't know much about, the assistant asked if I was interested, I said yes, "how many watts is it? "how many do you think you need, 5 watts will drive any speaker". He then wandered away and looked on the net, "x watts he replied".  I asked "is that into 4 or 8 ohms" again I got the question back, "does it matter?". Well clearly it does to me, the customer. It became clear the assistant knew rather less about the product than they should, and after 10 more minutes it was obvious they knew very little at all. Now this amplifier is approaching $10,000. Unfortunately today this behaviour is common. Having been involved in this hobby for over 40 years it is clear that many dealers today seem to think all their clients are millionaires and idiots. Most people spending $10,000 on amplifiers are likely both reasonably well-off and knowledgable about hifi, yet many stores don't seem to have the faintest idea of how to communicate with them.

@cdc 

where are you located? I know some dealers in DFW who do this.