How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Thank goodness I never got off as the last four years have seen me achieve what I thought was impossible, namely realism.

Of course, your components have to have the potential in them, but it is other elements that have allowed the breakthrough. In the order of my getting them these have been: the Tripoint Troy, which I reviewed long ago, but the Troy Signature and especially with their Thor SE grounding cables; three generations of High Fidelity Cables and especially their power cords; both the Stillpoints Ultra series, and then the Star Sound Audio Points and their Apprentice platform; and the Zilplex room treatments.

While taken together these all represent about 55% of the cost of my system. But what they have done, I think, exceeds anything I could have done buying more expensive components.

I should also say, however, that the Koda K-10 preamp has contributed to this excellence.

Drubin, I got off the mgr by going VAC integrated and decoupling the word, "new," from "better," or magic." Usually, "new" is "a little different," and rarely better. It's true that integrateds tend to defuse the "weakest link" obsession, and with VAC I have a sense of a great musical instrument, and my upgrade path is to A/B what I have with the next VAC integrated. Of course I had to love the VAC sound as a prerequisite.

Another twist is to go "classic," and choose the items that have earned a consensus of "great," which also defuses the marketing hype of "new" that gets to feeling like Lucy and the football.

Or 12 step.

Sure, the merry-go-round goes in circles with no end. We need an "audiophile highway" with a destination.
How do you know you've gotten there when you don't know where you are going? HHhhhhmmmmmm;)

04-23-15: Cdc
Sure, the merry-go-round goes in circles with no end. We need an "audiophile highway" with a destination.

There is no destination, an audiophile never finds the end of the highway. It goes on until one loses interest in audio for other reasons (health, wealth, death). A true audiophile is never done experiementing, so the journey continues even when one finds sonic bliss, as the possibility of improving upon "amazing" to "more amazing" will always exist.
It is this assumption that drives the glossy rag business.

Isn't it a little crazy to go on a journey with no destination?

Experimenting and trying different things alone can be a destination just as can a particular desired sound.

Or you can have dual destinations/goals sometimes as well, especially if one runs more than one system, one for reference and one for experimentation.