Matching Gear matter to you?

@verdantaudio  the person who brought this to my attention said the one I was originally looking at IS very good but that the other brand was just better. 
So had I never heard that I would most likely have been very happy with the original. But it seems to me that one that does have synergy with my amp AND has the same basic sound signature but improved on it AND is a few hundred less would be a no brainer.
Not sure what craziness I’m fighting internally right now.

@stringreen  that was exactly my thinking from the start. The person who tipped me off to this component has the same amp and says there’s excellent synergy (we both agreed synergy is very important).

My main system is a Frankenstein combination of different components, almost all are second hand. So no, I don't care, but I'll be the first to admit that my system is less than aesthetically pleasing.

It's up to you to decide if you're willing to sacrifice some money and from the sound of it, some sound quality, for the sake of looks. There's nothing wrong with that if that's your preference. 

It might be helpful if you stated the components you're considering. You might get some opinions that differ from your friend's.

Yeah it seems like most systems are a mush mash of components chosen for sound. Which totally makes sense.

i think my dysfunction is that I feel like I’m not being patient and going for a less expensive device vs staying the course and following through on my vision. Even though it’s not the case it’s evidently better than what I had planned. I’m dysfunctional. It shows.

My integrated tube amplifier, tube CD player, and tube phono stage are all from the same manufacturer. I've never had any regrets about any of it, but I did do some rather diligent research before I got any of it. One of the things that stood out to me was that there is no plastic on any of these units; even the remotes for the amp and cd player are metal with little ball bearings for the buttons. You can't hear the "no plastic" feature but to me it indicated a serious effort and I doubt they put more effort into the remotes than they did in the design of the equipment.

One brand systems outperform, unless they don't.