Thanks for the entertaining read. I came to similar conclusions only within the last couple years. Definitely made a few costly and audio-foolish mistakes along the way. There are good reasons for why it’s called “Pro Audio.”
These days I use a $320 streamer/DAC/preamp. Total retail of my current system amounts to only $9K, but it performs better than all previous compilations I’ve assembled. Speaker transducers and room treatment provide the most ROI by far. Everything else isn’t remotely close.
