Validation

Like you I have no external validation, barring my own enjoyment and remembering the journey -- research, listen, purchase, listen, return/exchange, or keep and repeat.  Though, I was very pleased when one my music loving friends remarked that his favorite album sounded "wonderful" on my streaming system.

Mostly, I benefit from the discussions here on what component/configuration/tweak (within my reach) may be best to investigate and try.

No, and it’s a rather silly thing to be competitive about! I’m not traditionally competitive anyways - mostly concerned with my own solitary pursuits of knowledge, skill, and self-satisfaction. I guess a "lone wolf" kind. All systems I’ve heard fall into 2 major categories: ones I like, and ones I don’t like. That’s the major demarcation. Getting good feedback can be OK in the moment, but it’s not meaningful nor necessary to me in the long run. I listen to much different material and SPLs than most audiophiles anyways. I am the sole arbiter of my audio pursuits!

The most incompatible guys with me are the ones who have this innate drive to feel like they’ve achieved "better sound" (whatever that means) than someome else while spending less money. Such a very foreign mindset to mine! This for me is a highly subjective pursuit of passion; money (within reason) and competition (mixing subjectivities) does not matter.

Don't need validation. All I need is the buzz that I get from enjoying listening to music on a good system.