You might say there are two ways to be an audiophile.
One is to study, learn, listen, search, find.
The other is to spend a lot of money.
Some folks do both.
Which one do you want to be?
I kinda wish people stopped talking about money all the time. The tenor of this pursuit should never be money.
You will notice that accomplished audiophiles rarely, if ever, mention money.
Exactly right!
And we do not take the cost of a system as a meter of our acoustical satisfaction nor as a meter of a system acoustical value..
All is in the way we optimize it...
For sure my low cost amplifier even well optimized will not beat a very costlier well done designed and well optimized system...(if the costlier system is not well optimized it may be another story though)
I must specify this because some people taking me for an idiot think that i put my low cost system on the same level as all the costlier beautiful system i had seen here in the virtual pages...
my point is: any system must be optimized nervermind his price...
With my low cost one i reach the level of "the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold"... It is enough for me , my needs and my budget...
Give me money i will optimize any chosen system at any price...
Then i will reach "the maximal acoustical satisfaction threshold"
But in the money you will gave me add the cost of a perfectly well designed acoustical dedicated room, i will not install a 200,000 bucks system in a room made of resonators made of plumber plastic etc (mine was homemade at peanuts costs)