What I wish I knew before starting my audiophile journey

I think OP did an excellent job in articulating his journey. Like many have said, multiple paths up the mountain to nirvana. I’m still learning about this hobby, and to some extent, still consider myself a newbie.
 

At an even more basic level, I think there’s a lot of value in experience, being open-minded, and questioning absolutes when multiple variables are at play. What really helped me navigate was recognizing the type of sound I was trying to capture.  

It’s been 46 years since I bought my first stereo receiver and a pair of 2 way speakers.  Since then I have maintained a two channel system and owned just 5 different pairs of speakers, 6 amps, 5 preamps, 6 turntables, and 5 CD and or DAC/Transport combos.  I’ve been through many more cable brands than anything through the years.  It takes me months to really settle into a new component and determine how I like it.  I’m not judging.  Back in the day I would visit stereo shops on weekends and business trips to hear different systems and components.  I also had some work buddies in the hobby which allowed all of us to hear various set ups.  These days all of that is hard to do.  So perhaps buying/selling is a pragmatic way to audition a component these days.  

Another way to build a system is through planning.  Stereo gear performance can be broken down into tiers.  Those tiers roughly correlate to price.  I know, everyone has their giant killer bargain sound component or tweaks that help get the most out of a component.  I was big into that in the late 80s to the early 2000s.  It can be very rewarding and while raising a family, pretty much the only option- in my case at least.  Anyway, I found that stretching a bit for a higher tier component when possible, if you know that’s what you want paves the way to upgrades in other areas at a later time.  It requires some planning and sometimes things don’t work out.  I had one preamp, for example for less than a year.  I also had an amp once for less than 2 years.  

When I retired recently I indulged myself and revamped my entire system.  Living the dream.  The best part was since I didn’t have to go to work I could spend nearly every day listening and planning out my system.  I visited a couple of stereo stores which were several hours away.  I also went to Axpona.  Good times.  In the end I sort of did things backwards.  I bought my new speakers last.  I knew what speakers I wanted so I planned everything around them.  They were my single biggest purchase so it took me some time to work up the nerve to spend the money.  It worked out ok.  I did end up changing out my speaker cables and all of my power cords to get the sound just right.  I haven’t thought of this until now but here is a breakdown in percentage of my components to total system cost.  I will leave out room treatments and dedicated outlet costs.  Btw- I started using dedicated outlets in 1988.  It was such an improvement that I have added them to every house that I have owned since.  Don’t hesitate to do it.

Speakers 28%

Amps 11%

Preamps (both line and phono) 18%

DAC, Transport 11%

Music Server/streamer (ROON) 2%

TT/Tonearm/Phono cartridge 9%

Tweaks such as footers, linear power supplies, etc 2%

Cables 15%

Power conditioner 5%

you could have also added: throwing 10s of thousands of dollars at it is must. 

It's weird you have owned so many speakers and amps in such a shorti time. and I would have been more curious about why? Did you sell them all used?

@dweller …. Best advice !

here is an example of what a dealer can do vis a vis auditions and experiences:

(1) Have him parrot my recent gig. I went down to navelgaze new bookshelf speakers on sale for my “C” system. These were regular $800+ ish units on clearance.
First he drove them with a budget $1900-ish system. The audio performance was OK without complaint but not inspiring . My buddy’s comment was “Meh?” At first we both thought it was a pass on the speakers.

He then drove them with a $10,000 integrated amp and $5,000 cdp. In short…”… WOW…WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?…”

I bought the speakers knowing that my home “C” system was better than his budget system and I was not disappointed. I also farced around by driving them at home with my “A” system …. Yep …. Just like in the store…the degree of audio improvements with lesser speakers with a much better build and quality upstream components is not subtle.

(2) Building a relationship with a dealer fosters trust and education . Rotating through 7 DACs in a short timeframe until you progressed to the LUMIN U1 MINI is arguably an avoidable heavy cost in time and money. A dealer would graphically highlight that it’s somewhere around a rough $3000 pricepoint and going northward that the DAC contenders start to differentiate themselves from the pretenders at a lower strata. (… Think quality build and audio improvements from linear power supplies as one example …,)

TAKEAWAYS

- System synergy (.. or lack of it..) matters, big time…Cobbling together a system in an ad hoc random basis is a big challenge …”One size does not fit all” arises in too many biased suggestions in this forum and mag reviews.. The audio performance results being incomplete and lacking at a minimum is a frequent hurdle without a better approach.

- Ignoring the audio performance warts present in your bespoke listening arena characteristics that somehow also need to be tamed, , intuitively there is no ‘perfect system”. This hobby enjoyment and frustration is a journey and not a destination.

- Dealer experience and advice helps …full,stop. They will reaffirm that an arbitrary $$ price shelled out for hopeful better audio performance is no assurance of actual better audio nirvana, Conversely, arbitrary price cap thresholds may be a bespoke budget strains on your wallet, but this is only a user generated arbitrary very limiting factor. Why?

”Price is what you pay…. Value is what you get.”

- WARREN BUFFETT.

Carry on and choose wisely.

Grisly,

Everything I bought was used. Some components I bought the same 2-3 times. The reason for this was I had a cap on my budget. In order to buy something else I needed to sell another piece. Through the whole process I only lost money 2 times and made money (not a ton) on almost every other piece. There would be these ah ha moments and I would realize the speakers I had weren’t the problem so I’d buy back the same speakers to validate or amp, DAC ect.. Crazy process I know but it was COVID and I had a 1 year old. Wasn’t a whole heck of anything else to do.