OK, if you really want to know.
So I am dedicated to buying almost everything second hand - yesterdayās upper end. I donāt mind having to wait to live in luxury. I buy off of Craigslist, from Saturday Audio Exchange (Andy is the best), occasionally Audiogon and Ebay.
So the retail cost equivalent of the system I listen to is about $20K-25K. Paid about $6500. Thatās not to say that is all I spent to get there because it IS a journey and what I like about my approach is auditions are very long term, in my listening room, with my gear. Things I donāt use are traded in, traded, or sold for near or at the price I paid.
[Numbers assume Iām listening to digital front end. I also have an analog setup that would increase the above numbers, but still bought used other than the cartridge, and the boys over at Music Direct did me a huge favor when they got me their demo Avid phono preamp on the extra cheap]
Plus I have a lot of alternative gear of equivalent quality and I shuffle the deck pretty often. Thatās helpful when auditioning a recent acquisition since I can try different combinations to see what sounds best with it.
There is a lot of work in that - I donāt have the space to do all the acoustical stuff that Mahgister has been able to do, but I do have thick carpet and a vaulted ceiling with decent natural acoustics. I do move gear around, swap connections, angle and toe, use a swarm of subs, etc., and that all takes work to configure well and also keep running. Plus you have to be glued to all the used markets and be opportunistic on purchase - buy whatās available rather than some targeted piece.
I enjoy the sound tremendously. It is magic to me. And one of my favorite things to do is test synergy among components by shuffling the deck - I have a NOS DAC and a SABRE-based DAC and they have different qualities. Levinson SS pre sounds different from the BAT tube pre. 5.1 SACD or DVDA adds another dimension (literally!). Sure, I could combine all that value and have components with 2x-3x the retail price but IMHO itās more about synergy and learning and I am happy with what Iāve got (not that I wouldnāt jump at a $10K piece I saw sitting at Goodwill or something).
I almost hesitated to put in numbers because I think itās obnoxious to talk about spend, but did in order to provide some context. Please forgive me if I broke my own rule...at least Iām not talking about my 6 figure system and how it enhances my manhood...