The source thing always amazes me since the only way it makes any kind of sense is to assume that every link in the audio chain is as simple to design and build as any other. If you accept this premise, which is wrong in my opinion, you would match some pretty outlandish sources to some pretty mediocre amplification and speakers.
Linn really did a number on folks decades ago...
Buy what you can afford at first and try for a home audition of whatever upgrade you are contemplating. Go for some kind of balance in your system, bearing in mind that despite what you hear and read some components will make more of a difference than others. I think both ends of the chain are of great importance. Finding differences in amplification of comparable capabilities is something best left to folks with a lot of time and money to waste and who don't necessarily listen to music but to sound per se. My one reserve: the phono section can almost be considered as part of the analog source and, consequently, given a little more scrutiny.
Oh, and if you think of it good and hard you will realize that the source is actually beyond your own system and starts with the microphones used in recording. Once you realize that, audiophilia really seems to be a flawed process no?
Linn really did a number on folks decades ago...
Buy what you can afford at first and try for a home audition of whatever upgrade you are contemplating. Go for some kind of balance in your system, bearing in mind that despite what you hear and read some components will make more of a difference than others. I think both ends of the chain are of great importance. Finding differences in amplification of comparable capabilities is something best left to folks with a lot of time and money to waste and who don't necessarily listen to music but to sound per se. My one reserve: the phono section can almost be considered as part of the analog source and, consequently, given a little more scrutiny.
Oh, and if you think of it good and hard you will realize that the source is actually beyond your own system and starts with the microphones used in recording. Once you realize that, audiophilia really seems to be a flawed process no?