I'm going to give it a chance and play it around 60 hours to see only have 6
Usually this stuff goes from great to better.
Not from woeful to great.
And some of the “great to better” may also be psychological.
Most of the time I find it sounds a bit different when I swap gear in, but I am never sure if it really sounds different, or if I just want it to.
At best, it has been subtle.
Maybe some gear would be only be good to great, but seldom woeful to great.
Something is jacked up.
I usually start with this:
It should be pretty good just from an iPhone or iPad. It should not sound unlistenable, and provides a decent way to test out the inputs without ground loops.