Optimization process in the 4 working dimensions of any system/room : mechanical,electrical,acoustical,DSP, gave something almost no single gear upgrade can give if a system is already synergetical to begin with ...
Learning optimization punch way over the purchase of a piece of gear as an upgrade in almost all case...Except if one piece of your system is not up to the job or not synergetical...
Acoustics rules not taste ...
Common sense also rules over budget limitless availability...
Study first what you can do for your actual system/room not what you could purchase...
All components i purchased were purchased in the hope that they will give my a good experience..
So good some were, and some were, nothing can satisfy me at all BEFORE i learned how to optimize them together in my room anyway..
Thats my point...
Describing my best purchase does not means much, because all pieces must fit together synergetically and at the same price level...
Then it is meaningless to speak of my SPS Battery dac or of my AKG K340... Or my Tannoy speakers... Or of my Edifier system...What makes them great or not so great was my ability to optimize them or my inability to do so ...
Thats my point...
The one who know dont speak about his taste for such product or for some other... There exist many good products but only one way to optimize them...