New equipment

@phillyb , If you know what to do with electrostatic loudspeakers you can get all the volume and dynamic you could ever wish for with much lower distortion within the audio band. If they are designed as dipolar line sources you can minimize room interaction to a level impossible with any other type of loudspeaker. 

Thoughtful evaluation is the path to a state of the art system. You identify the problems, find and implement  the solutions. The problem most people have is that they are not sure what the target is so they are out to sea without a compass. Thiis is why listening to an assortment of State of the art systems or frequenting live acoustic performances is so important. Sitting three or four rows away from a string quartet is an amazing experience. If you want to know what imaging should be like there you have it. Violins are difficult to reproduce without sibilance. Is there any at a live performance? If not then there should not be any at home either. Sitting a few rows away from a double bass and drums at a jazz performance will tell you what bass should sound and feel like. They should sound exactly the same at home.

Anybody who tells you that any of this can not be done is a defeatist. Good hunting to all of you!

@phillyb  and the elephant in the audiophile room, is that if you don't fix the room, and spend real dollars there, the sound you will get will plateau. No amount of money, no fancy cables, no power conditiondf, no tubes in your DAC, no new cartridge, nothing will get your past a certain SQ.

@sns 

I'm sure you guys realize one get both tone and texture along with greater resolving capabilities these days. Some amazing equipment out there, and getting better over time. You can have your cake and eat it to.

True, but I agree with @oddiofyl  if there were a hypothetical "only" one or the other choice.

Charles

OP 

The same thing happened to me.  I got to a place where I could only hear equipment and the music no longer mattered and as I wasn't in a place that I could afford or house the stereo I thought I wanted I just stopped put my albums in storage and only listened to NPR while driving.  30 years later I'm back.  My hearing isn't as good so my ability to discern nuances has diminished.  Technology has improved and  with streaming I have access to more music than I could ever listen to. 

What worked for me was expanding what I listened to.  It's hard to be critical of the sound if the music is unfamiliar.

Unfortunately, different isn't always better, and buyer's remorse is very real.

Good luck on your journey, sounds like you already know the path...