"Now I know that my kilobuck system sounds better than the mini," Cody.
Depends on whether you listen to "sounds" or "music". Just because something sounds better doesn't mean you will enjoy the music any more.
I have found more revealing systems can be disappointing over the long run because they reveal too much - the bad as well as the good. Then I end up listening to the system and not the music. Besides, I don't expect to hear all these problems when I just spent $10,000.
Sure, an expensive system can sound glorious but I'm not about to stop listening to music I love because it's a lousy recording. Neither am I going to listen to music I hate for very long just because it's a great recording.
We tried so hard to get my girlfriend a nice stereo but even a little B&W/Rotel or Epos/Creek system easily goes for $3,000. Face it, the hi-end audio industry has the consumer by the xxxx's.
We got her an Aiwa EC-12, lacks power and is a little bright (treble tone control takes care of that) but for $79.95 new on closeout from Ebay, it gets the job done. At moderate listening levels and not counting bass, sound is not as far off from hi-end as most people are willing to believe.