Validation

The smile on my face when I crank it up is all I need.   

My son and son in law were over the other day .  They have heard my main system a number of times in its different incarnations over the years .  

They haven't heard my second system since new speakers and amp.  When they heard that tiny system come to life they were quite surprised.   It was fun watching their reaction.

This is a pretty solitary  hobby.   I really don't show off my hardware ,  I know people think it's nuts to have big stereos anyways.  I really don't care, and at the risk of sounding selfish it's completely for my enjoyment..  

The best validation that a system sounds good is that you don't listen for flaws and just enjoy the music