What does 90% of the Absolute Best Sound Cost?

Best is individual. Some people desire anachronism while some want all the Silicon Valley names in their solid state gear. Others like sculpted, art pieces like antique clocks. There are big rooms soaking up power and small rooms running on flea watts. And their are mid price value investors like myself owning two different Ice Module amps with my other two amps a Panasonic SA-XR 50 and Peachtree Carina 300. 

My system has eclipsed just over the $165K threshold, and will be rising again shortly with a DAC/Streamer upgrade in the works. Has my system reached 90%, 95%, etc...? It seems more like the equation of y=1/X which never reaches zero. Y becomes a horizontal asymptote as Y=0. All I know, and all I care, is that my system sounds darn good to me, and brings me great pleasure. That is priceless.

My system is about $150K. For me, it is a destination system.

Even though I know that I could do much better.

And I am clear that I am not at 90 or 95% of “the absolute sound”.

If it could be quantified, maybe 50%.

But it is also clear that the law of diminishing returns applies.

Please also understand that ignorance does not imply intelligence.

Only lack of experience.

And delusion is an extremely common state of most audiophiles.

All I know is that my system is way good enough.

The four greatest stereo systems I've heard in my life are

• Magico M6 speakers powered by Luxman electronics. That was about a $270,000 setup.

• Avantgarde Acoustics G3 horns, can't remember the amps or anything else, probably around $300,000 total.

• Focal Grande Utopia Evos with a front end by Naim. Over $400,000.

• YG Acoustics XV speakers driven by Boulder monoblocks  and a Boulder preamp. Including the sources and cables, this setup retails for just over a million.

I'd say that although these four systems didn't sound the same, they were roughly equal in quality. End-level, tip-of-the-top hifi.

What would it take to get to 90 percent of that quality? The first candidates that cane to mind were the Alta Audio Aphrodite speakers, $50,000, with Infigo electronics that were at least another 50 grand.

But in my book, the value champs are the Grimm LS1c active speakers, which start around $24,000. To get super clean bass down to 20Hz, I'd add the integrated Grimm SB1 motion feedback subs, about $13,00/pr.

I've listened to multiple dozens of fantastic systems that cost a lot less and that very much impressed me, but if the goal is to get to 90% of the best performance possible, for me the Grimms are the ticket, and so the answer to OP's question is "around $37,000," not counting a digital or analog source.

Much less than you think.