To me what it is to be an audiophile is to be one who loves listening to music and always wants to hear it a little better if they can. The last three words "if they can" are critical. All engineering is a matter of design compromises and optimizing your result given the constraints you have. For audiophiles, the most obvious is budget. But there are other considerations - compatibility of a prospective new component with the existing system, WAF, room size and character, etc.
Contentment doesn't come having a perfect system. It simply comes from within your own heart. Just enjoy the tunes and enjoy the process of learning about your system. If you want the most pleasure, then DIY is the way to go. There's little more pleasurable than building your own gear and having it perform as well or better than a kilobuck commercial component.
Contentment doesn't come having a perfect system. It simply comes from within your own heart. Just enjoy the tunes and enjoy the process of learning about your system. If you want the most pleasure, then DIY is the way to go. There's little more pleasurable than building your own gear and having it perform as well or better than a kilobuck commercial component.