My point is acoustic passive treatment and mechanical active control is superior in improvement to almost any upgrade of a piece of gear IF YOUR AUDIO SYSTEM IS ALREADY WELL CHOSEN FIRST FOR SURE...My system value is 500 bucks but very well chosen..What i say anyway is applicable to system at any price....
Secondly 95% at least of rooms lack to be acoustically at their optimum in relation to the specfic ears and speakers of the owner.. ( even mine because i dont pretend to have created the perfect room)
Third A dedicated audio room for the system, not a living room, is the ONLY luxury and costly element in ANY system done right....
it is my experience...
Of course you listen to an amp! You also listen to the preamp/dac/tt/cart/cables. You are assuming that nobody sets up their audio rooms properly. When you start talking about hifi, you should have the basics already covered, and you start with the room. If your room isn’t treated properly, why would you think of wasting your money on hifi equipment?