A little story maybe make you feel better... when I was 23 I moved to NJ/NYC area and was a Graphic designer in publishing.. significantly lower salary than you I'm sure... I got by with sharing apts. and started slooowly building system, starting with replacing my college midfi stuff with: Rega P-3 (which I still have the modded arm/cardas wire now on my P-9), Signet MC cart., Music Fidelity A-1 class A integrated, and a pair of lower end Stax headphones.. no speakers, no cables...
IF it was today.. I would start with a Rega Brio, Rega Apollo, entry level cardas cables maybe.. and headphones no speakers... and sloowly build better. but that right there ain't much money and it ain't bad...
IF it was today.. I would start with a Rega Brio, Rega Apollo, entry level cardas cables maybe.. and headphones no speakers... and sloowly build better. but that right there ain't much money and it ain't bad...