Do you buy gear new, used, both?

I buy new gear. I keep it for a long time say 7 to 12 years on average. I do in depth research. Depending when in my life... early including travel to listen, audition. Now, after fifty years, in general, I can read reviews and know exactly what it is going to sound like. I have now often enough heard about a combination of components, thought through what they should sound like, and then listened to them and found them to sound exactly like I imagined to trust my experience. 

So, new from a dealer. When I am purchasing something that can cost as much as a car... I don’t want any unsettling doubt involved in the process. When I was young, I remember the joy of purchasing something at half price, angst of wondering if it was going to be functional and what I expected and then the horror of realizing it had some flaw. 

I used to scour the thrift stores for stuff when I was younger. (back when I was the worlds poorest audiophile,probably still am🤑) Now that I have somewhat of an understanding of system building. I find that it is much easier to build if you stick with buying new. Trying to search for a specific product in a jumble of shelves at goodwill is not my thing. 

Only new. I dabbled with used and found I could not handle the unknowns of used. I was obsessive about it to the point it was all consuming.

I did an AI search on the condition and it is real. It was an eye opener for me.

I will do used if family or trusted friends. Conversely, my wife kids me that I am the guy you want to buy used stuff from because it is pristine.

Yes, both

Both, but primarily used as it was the ONLY WAY for me to afford targeted high-end SS Sonics.