Some of the best sounding systems I’ve heard were pretty high dollar, some only on the "expensive" side (😁), but were assembled by extremely talented people. Understanding system synergy, acoustics, electrical interactions, and the influence of the whole chain is extremely important. You’re simply not going to drive speakers like MBLs or Magicos with your average "good" amplifier, even if it cost a lot....speakers like that tend to sort out the contenders from the pretenders and it can be a painful learning curve, or an exercise in blissful ignorance if it sounds bad and the owners love it anyway. Good sound doesn't know whether it cost a lot or a little, and there's often not even much of a correlation.
I don’t own high dollar stuff, but the exposure to the really good systems has helped me get a taste of good sound...lack of budget just forced me to find another way.