What’s a mistake you made by being impulsive?

I spent several years and several thousands of $'s trying to get a pair of Thiel speakers to sound "right".  Now, I am fortunate to live in a major metro area where I can avail myself of many audio product choices.  Most of the dealers in my area allow for in home trials and will give honest advice on system matching.  I have developed a "go to" number of recordings for each time I audition a new component.  Some lessons you lean the hard way.  

Mr “Willgolf” — would you comment on your Lampizator Pacific?   Was it a big step up from your prior DAC?  I have been intrigued by the thought of adding some tubes into my system and the Pacific caught my eye.  Thank you.

You should not change everything at once you will have no basis or comparison and if you do go to a single ended triode amplifier you will have to change around your entire system again especially your speakers but the one thing i can suggest about a better pre amplifier is that it is a very critical component whether you get the dac or not it is the hub o a great system it can make or break it in so many ways.

I bought into the hype of a particular factory-direct brand (probably the same one to which @2psyop was referring). Though my mistake was a pair of speakers.

 They looked great in theory — top shelf Scanspeak drivers and crossovers populated with boutique parts. Cabinets with custom wood veneer assembled in the USA. Unfortunately, the product I actually received was a joke. Drivers were mounted with too small of screws. The crossovers were rattling around in the cabinets because they had only been secured to the foam lining. The veneer was poorly cut and aligned at the edges, and the lacquer covering the veneer had numerous runs and bubbles. In short, the cabinets looked like someone’s high-school shop project, not what one would expect from speakers costing over $4K/pair. 

Though this company claimed a “no-hassle satisfaction guarantee” on its website, returning the speakers was the biggest PITA I’ve experienced in all my time in this hobby. When all was concluded, the mistake left my bank account $400 lighter. The worst part was not the money I lost, rather it was having to deal with the man-child owner of the company. 

Helomech-
Haha yeah you and I have learned a few lessons about hype from manufacturers.... for sure.

BTW I had to inquire and ask questions from a now popular speaker company about "who" makes their drivers. These questions were never answered and I felt wiser than before when I made all the wrong choices in buying from audio brand X. Brand X guy never answered the phone and always made excuses. If companies are honest and I see others getting good communication from the smaller boutique audio manufacturers I can feel confident with a purchase. I feel that when a company asks outrageous prices for the gear they sell.... one should be skeptical that you might not get an equitable amount of performance for the price. That was proved by Danny in the video I posted in my previous post. But the same holds true for audio companies that claim they have the best bargain prices for "high end" stuff. I have often found those companies cut corners to offer that "high end" stuff at the price they do. That sometimes means their el-cheapo capacitors fail much more often or the transformers they buy from china are junk and buzz. (Not knocking all Chinese gear, I have a Chinese amp that is very nice and has given great customer service). I am saying I think in those cases of el-cheapo capacitors and transformers, you really do get what you pay for because the manufacturer is just putting a sale above all else.
But hey man I am happy now, hope you are doing well with your system too.