We all come to this hobby for the same reason...
We love music...
Then some seems to decide to stop upgrading when they reach some minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold...For money reason only or like me because they can listen music now without being bothered by sound defects or lacks or unbalanced acoustic problems coming from the gear or from the room acoustic or the two ...The reason why i am not bothered by evident S.Q. problems no more is a good synergy between well chosen components and embeddings controls well done...
Some others , because of no lack of money, goes higher toward an optimal acoustic satisfaction treshold ...
In these groups there is those who had learn what to do in basic acoustics and embedding controls , and those who put great faith in price tag only and dont take the arduous amount of time to learn ...
Beginners must know that most audiophiles will be in the obligation to go on the first road with a limited budget... Then if they want to enjoy the minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold , they had much to learn about synergy first and mechanical,electrical and especially acoustic controls BEFORE upgrading if possible if basic synergy between components is there for sure....
The other group with no limit in money or way less limit must know that the price tag is not linearly related to S.Q. and they too will be in the obligation to do studies and experiments if they want to go even to the minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold and pass it toward the optimal acoustic satisfaction threshold ....
In any case we must experience natural timbre, spatial acoustics differentiation qualities and immersiveness to SOME BASIC LEVEL ... At least on a minimal level as i am or at the top optimal possible level ... But you must know this, at any price the learnings curve, the acoustic studies and the experiments are the same ...
As say the geometer to the pharaoh , there is no price in gold a pharaoh can pay to know geometry save the study work itself ...There is no royal road...
Price tag and money dont even buy the minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold in many case then certainly not the top optimal acoustical satisfaction level ...
Sorry to blew the balloon...
Many musicians dont bother with a serious quality playback system because music perception transcend sound qualities perception ...And the truth is that a minimal acoustic satisfaction level is enough for most people anyway to enjoy music with a relatively very good sound at low cost ... Optimal level of acoustic satisfaction cost a lot in money and in time invested anyway...