There have been many advances in stereo components.
You cannot measure with "price points" however for a couple reasons.
1. Many components that are selling for 7-10K are over priced. Ive opened some of these up and marvel at the audacity of some of the pricing placed on mediocrity. A standard steel casement costs about $40 and I’ve seen these on $11,000 integrateds
2. Tastes cannot be assimilated into subjective reasoning. I’ve heard higher priced separates I have not liked as much as a set of $4000 separates.
But that’s me and my tastes.
There are many integrateds that produce wonderful assimilation of recorded music. The question remains if these inte’s fulfill your tastes sufficiently enough to be gratifying to you.
For instance, I can’t listen to Hegel stuff as I find them fatiguing thru resolute speakers. They’re impressive at first and wow many in audio salons.
You and many others here might love Hegel. Not me.
Go with a name brand that consensus wise, seems to float many boats such as ARC, (Paragon is selling the renowned Vsi 75 for $6K where these things were once $10K), Belles Signature, Music Fidelity 6 series, etc.Ffor separates, I've always liked the Quick Silver stuff and they're not crazy money.
I like "natural sounding". Not embellished with too much distortion to round off highs for the sake of bass or weight. Nor do I like highs that border on the sterile. I go for correct timbres, appropriate sound stage for the recording I'm listening to and spectacular imaging. One Vsi 75 thru Pro Ac Studio 100's does this enough for me.
Try to find descriptions of the listeners taste in sound reproduction or else reviews are absolutely worthless otherwise.