My own approach, to anything and not just hifi gear, is to start with a budget and then decide how much of that budgeted amount to spend on components. I have long heard that speakers are so important that one should spend half of the budget on the speakers alone. If my budget for the system is $10,000 and I spend half of that on speakers, I have a choice of some nice speakers but it doesn’t leave much for the rest of the system — likely, the most realistic approach would be to limit my system to speakers, an integrated or separate amp/preamp with built-in DAC, and source (say, streamer or CD). I didn’t spend half on speakers, so they had to be “good enough” and the same with the rest of the equipment. Then, as many do here, upgrade the weakest link over time to gradually improve the entire system.
I don’t deceive myself that I will ever own (likely not even hear), the top of line components — they are out of my budget. I enjoy looking at things like the Dan D’Agostino monoblocks, but those are a dream, nothing more. I enjoy what I have and enjoy reading about what others have. More power to them.