It sounds like you have had negative experiences upgrading you're Music Reproduction System this is a very common, frequent, recurring issue with those who prefer to evaluate such system components using what they believe to be objective, scientific, engineering data rather than first just actually listening to the components being considered in the evaluation.
The 5 stages of making a bad audio purchase
This is tongue in cheek people, so let’s keep the replies light shall we?
The 5 Stages of Making a Bad Audio Purchase:
1. Denial: "My system, which before was of course totally awesome, is now totally awesomer! The sound stage isn’t just 3 dimensional any more, it is 4 dimensional. I can feel fingers sliding across guitar strings, drums are like my head is against the snare, and the bass goes 10hz lower ...."
2. Anger: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T BELIEVE MY SYSTEM WENT FROM AWESOME TO AWESOMER!!!. You obviously have a crap system, your ears are crap, you are just jealous."
3. Bargaining: "Hey, this gadget will make your already awesome system totally awesomer! 60% of MFR list is a great deal for it! That’s 40% off and you don’t even have to pay tax. I am only selling it because I am upgrading to the even awesomer version 2. My loss is your gain."
4. Depression: "I can’t believe I spent $5,000 on this thing ....."
5. Acceptance: "Sure, 75% off list is fair."
The 5 Stages of Making a Bad Audio Purchase:
1. Denial: "My system, which before was of course totally awesome, is now totally awesomer! The sound stage isn’t just 3 dimensional any more, it is 4 dimensional. I can feel fingers sliding across guitar strings, drums are like my head is against the snare, and the bass goes 10hz lower ...."
2. Anger: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T BELIEVE MY SYSTEM WENT FROM AWESOME TO AWESOMER!!!. You obviously have a crap system, your ears are crap, you are just jealous."
3. Bargaining: "Hey, this gadget will make your already awesome system totally awesomer! 60% of MFR list is a great deal for it! That’s 40% off and you don’t even have to pay tax. I am only selling it because I am upgrading to the even awesomer version 2. My loss is your gain."
4. Depression: "I can’t believe I spent $5,000 on this thing ....."
5. Acceptance: "Sure, 75% off list is fair."