The "audiophile gear" I REALLY need is a damn house.

Headphones. Good ones, along with a top notch amp and dac. You'll never go back to a mid level two channel system again.

I've always wanted a place where I could throw a rock as hard as I could from my front lawn and not hit the nearest neighbor.  I with you on this. 👍

All the best,
Nonoise

Once you have a house and the system you want, you'll need to turn it up less.  a great system sounds excellent without excessive volume and you can listen all day long.

@nonoise  Growing up in rurual MO, you couldn't see the neighbors' houses but dad taught us to always keep track of where the neighbors houses were when squirrel hunting.

@carlsbad2, Yup, what you said.  Very true