If you can't afford to buy an amplifier and you like tube gear you can build your own, especially if you choose SET amps because of the simplicity of design. You can use better components: polypropylene power supply capacitors instead of electrolytic, components rated at two or three times the current they will carry, and for a minuscule fraction of the cost of a high end amp. There is a $350,000 tube amp that you can build with output transformers that easily match the performance of the "Lamborghini" $350,000 amp with between 1/2 and 1/2 the current rated before core saturation distortion in the one you build with transformers costing about $250 each channel. Getting a book on how to do it and studying it takes less time and concentration than it must take to earn $350,000. This should be part of the hobby.
More difficult projects such as trying to build your own DAC will be less realistic.
More difficult projects such as trying to build your own DAC will be less realistic.