I just wrote a post this morning in an another thread but for the benefit of my few readers I will keep it also here because it represent my experience better perhaps than my other posts... I apologize for this copy/ paste post of mine and my excuse is also some corrections were added for clarity ...
«Contrary to the popular faith that because hearing decrease with age, (which is true off course), the opinion that the capacity and the power to discriminating listenings by self education of the ears with music must decrease also, is false... The perception of sound is complex and only simple mind think that it is only function of frequencies direct perception...
On the contrary at any age man can educate his own ears...
Creating your own audio system without discriminating ears is difficult in fact impossible,then the only one solution is using money to buy reputation and high quality ready made at high cost...
Without money, if you learn to listen, creating a great hi-fi for peanuts is possible... I made it...
Rule number 1:
Almost all electronic gear are on these 3 levels of quality...Be it 3 levels in S.Q./ price ratio: low-fi, mid-fi, high-fi...Inside each level the difference are way less linked to the product " per se" and way more linked to his particular implementation, his qualitative embedding in your audio system, and room and electrical house grid , way more than any upgrade on the same level with a different piece of gear...
You must buy after searching for the best possible something in one of these 3 categories of gear and you keep it, this is the first rule (no upgrade ).
When I say that almost all gear on a same level are on par approximatively for quality compared to a higher level or to a lower one, I only affirm that nevermind the difference which exist on the same level, a good amplifier being a good one, changing it will cost you big money, but tweaking it toward his improving potential will cost you way less and will be more rational and more fun... I can say that most people indeed dont know the true quality level of the gear they already owns. The reason is simple, controls of vibration, treatment of the room, cleaning the noise in the electrical grid gives you most of the times an S.Q. out of this world compared to an upgrade with an hyped new product, especially if you buy it in the same level of quality among the 3 possible...
Rule number 2
You treat the electric grid of your house
Rule number 3
You controls with different experiments the vibration-resonance in the gear and room
Rule number 4
You use your ears and a small step at a time you treat your room for sound
Rule number 5
You read and inform yourself about tweaks that you replicate or invent yourself after listening session in your system and after 2 or 3 years your system will be top level at the least cost...
My best to all and each of you...»